Ashfield’s Summer Spectacle

By Diane Broncaccio

Everybody is a star in Double Edge Theatre’s “The Odyssey”—even the piglets in Double Edge’s animal barn.

In addition to the actors—human or animal—local visual artists, craftsmen, musicians, businesses, and others have also come together to make Double Edge’s 10^th annual Summer Spectacle really spectacular.

“The Odyssey,” which was in previews through July 24, began regular production Wednesday and will be staged through Aug. 21, Wednesdays through Sundays, at 8 p.m., rain or shine.

Using 82 lithographs that artists Marc Chagall painted in the 1970s, the ensemble and many local guest artists will depict Homer’s epic journey throughout the fields, gardens and waterways of Double Edge’s 105-acre farm.

Homer’s epic poem about Greek war hero Odysseus’ 10-year journey home after the Trojan War will be followed by the audience, who will physically travel their own odyssey from one scene to the next, from Calypso’s isle and Circe’s enchanted hall to the giant Cyclops’ cave. The performance’s 10 settings, throughout the Double Edge campus, have been created with the help of dozens of community and artist volunteers. That’s why Double Edge bills the event as “the indoor/outdoor travelling performance spectacle.”

Installation artists Nancy Winship Milliken’s 30-foot tall felted-wool sails will swell with the wind in he rolling fields of the 105-acre farm. A week before the previews, Milliken of Amherst was putting together the sails for the performance. This is the first time she has ever worked with Double Edge, she said.

“It’s been a great experience,” she said as she strung a sheet of fleece onto a mast. “We also have other sails going up. We will have some sails made of flashing, hat will move in the wind and creating both flashing sound and light,” she said.

Another of her creations for the play is a cocoon-like “Cyclops’ Cave,” a structure built of chicken wire and lined with felted clumps of brown and ecru sheep fleece hat Milliken obtained from local farms.

Big Bang Mosaic artist Cynthia Fisher of Buckland has designed a mythological mosaic that, for this performance, is part of Calypso’s isle. When he play is over, the mosaic will remain as part of Double Edge’s ornamental garden, which was designed by Ashfield landscape architect Harry Dodson. Also, Alpha Stone Concrete of Turners Falls mixed and laid the cement foundation for fisher’s mosaic.

Ashfield Stone Inc. has donated four tons of stone to help with landscaping the grounds. Bill and Jim Vieira of North Wind Stonework helped with the stonework installation. Harrison Gray of Ashfield has also donated a day’s labor and equipment to stage a shipwreck, by helping hoist a 30-foot wooden ship into place.

The fierce head of an 18-foot Cyclops was created by Michal Kuriata, a polish artist who moved to Ashfield five or six years ago. The puppet will require several people to operate it, according to Matthew Glassman, co-director of the theater troupe.

Hayley Wood of Northampton has designed a soulful, somber puppet-version of Odysseus after a shipwreck.

Rachel Silverman of Greenfield is transforming an animal barn into a Greek throne room with panted murals. She has also designed the animal barn of Circes. (remember how Circes, a goddess of magic, wine and dines sailors before turning them into pigs? That’s where those piglets come in.)

When asked if the pigs are good actors, Glassman replies, “The pigs are wonderful. They’re also going to be upstaging actors.”

But that’s not likely—given the critical acclaim Double Edge has received this year and in the past. Double Edge was named “Best of New England—Editor’s Choice” by Yankee Magazine this spring. “Actors draw their audience along in the dusk from meadow to barn to hillside to pond side, amplifying their tale with music, dance and amazing acrobatics,” the magazine said.

The 75-minute production is directed by Double Edge founder Stacy Klein. The live music score drawn on 2,000 years of song traditions from Greece and the Mediterranean. Dan Frank, owner of Maude’s Music of Ashfield, is helping with the outdoor sound and sound effects.

“We feel very fortunate that all these people have become partners in this endeavor,” said Glassman. The Double Edge Ensemble includes about 12 permanent artists, --actors and musicians and designers.

Also, the Charlestown Working Theater in Boston is co-presenting “The Odyssey.” In return, Double Edge may help the Charlestown ensemble organize a similar collaborative production, with Boston-based artists, businesses, and the community.

“The Summer Spectacle that we do here only happens in the farm. But we are talking to different people in different cities around the country who have been hearing about the spectacle—because it’s gotten national and international recognition—about us doing work in their communities, such as Chicago, and in Boston and Worcester. Working with their communities, the way we work with our community here, and using that as a model, to collaborate with working and emerging artists there, and with local businesses,” said Glassman.

“Tolstoy said you paint your village, you paint your world,” said Glassman. “And the Summer Spectacle has become a true model for the collective vision of the community.”

Double Edge was founded in 1982 in Boston, but has been on the farm in Ashfield since 1994. The company travels, but the Summer Spectacle is only performed on the Ashfield farm, says Glassman.

“About two-thirds of the audience is from the Pioneer Valley,” he said. “One-third is from the rest of New England and the country.”

When Double Edge began its Summer Spectacle show in 2002, the company gave three performances and drew a combined audience of 45 for all three shows, Glassman said.

This year, “The Odyssey” will have 22 performances, and Double Edge anticipates 2,000 people.

“There’s a lot of local audience and kids,” he said. “Some of the kids in this area have grown up with this. There are a group of kids in Heath that come to see our previews and our performances.”

Since the audience capacity is limited to 55 per performance, tickets must be purchased in advance.

The cost is: $25 per adult; $22 per student or senior citizen; $18 for children 12 and younger. Discounts for Ashfield residents are available Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday nights and $75 family package tickets are available for families with four to six members.

More information is available on the website: www.doubleedgetheatre.org or by calling 413-628-0277.

The theater/farm is located at 948 Conway Road (Route 116) in Ashfield.