During Antioch College’s Winter Quarter in 2016, the College’s vibrant Performance Program will host a unique project in civic engagement and collaborative techniques in theater and performance. Marcellus Shale is a play written by Talking Band members Paul Zimet and Ellen Maddow. The play was inspired by firsthand experience Zimet and Maddow had with the impact of fracking on their upstate New York community in 2013. Antioch will host performances of Marcellus Shale as well as an exhibition and panel discussion on March 10-13, 2016. All events are open to the public.

In Marcellus Shale, the Talking Band moves beyond talking points and into the underlying questions we all face when struggling with life-altering (and possibly life-threatening) decisions: What really matters to you? What would be the last thing that you would give up? What do you consider a good life? Have you lived one? Are you living one now?

Critic and activist Andy Horowitz writes of the play:

“The play offers a nuanced and thoughtful exploration of this divisive and contentious issue. The opposing views of a spectrum of characters – a veteran with PTSD, local farmers who sold their rights, and those who refused, women ‘Prayer Warriors’ from the local church, spectral ‘Men In Suits’, Occupy Wall Street-style radicals – all are given equal weight and complexity. The story is told in such a way that each character has respect and dignity; they struggle to maintain their human connections even as they hold ideologically irreconcilable positions.”

Antioch College has been invited to participate in a National Endowment for the Arts-funded project that involves educational institutions and communities to engage with the Marcellus Shale script. Host sites will also engage with processes of devising theater that the Talking Band has practiced for forty years. The Antioch Performance Program will host the first iteration of this project. The College’s participation will be documented through Virginia Tech’s VT Artworks housed at the Center of Creativity, Arts and Technology. VT Artworks is designed to offer artists resources and archives for transformative community arts practices and strategies. Other communities involved in the project include Charleston, W. Va., and ArtSpot Productions in New Orleans, La.

Antioch undergraduate students in Associate Professor of Performance Louise Smith’s Devised Theater class as well as students in Associate Professor of Biology and Environmental Science Dr. Kim Landsbergen’s Ecology class will take part in public showings as well as panel presentations on the issues and themes of the play. Talking Band members Maddow and Zimet will be in residence at Antioch College from February 12-16, offering an open studio on Friday, February 12 and a devised theater workshop open to the public on Saturday, February 13.

For additional information regarding how you or your organization can participate, please contact Louise Smith at lsmith@antiochcollege.org.

Performance times TBA.