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ARTFARM EQUITY, DIVERSITY and INCLUSION STATEMENT ARTFARM recognizes that many existing systems of power grant privilege and access unequally. We believe that equity and access are essential for a vibrant, healthy, stable society. Since our inception, ARTFARM has been dedicated to social justice, and we will maintain accountability as we acknowledge and commit to dismantling inequities. We will commit to community growth, service, inclusivity, diversity and increased understanding as an organization and as we continue to pursue cultural consciousness and transformation through the arts. For more ARTFARM video samples, scroll down to the bottom of this page.
Scroll down to Our Latest 'State of the Onion' Newsletter below.
Please help keep ARTFARM vibrant. Consider a monthly donation TODAY.  This just in from our friend, Jonathon Ellison, Environmental Architect & Clown Extraordinaire- and Founder of Water for African Women Senegal "Thank you again to the great folks at ARTFARM in Middletown, CT. Aissatou and Lala, and their moms, their aunties, their sisters, and their grandmothers, are about to have a 2-acre, solar-powered garden installed in their village. A whole lotta women's lives are about to experience a massive, positive and sustainable change. Hallelujah, and ARTFARM is a part of this great success!" *** IN THESE TIMES An Embodied Community Grief Ritual with Marcella Trowbridge was held outdoors at The Sanctuary in East Haddam, CT This is what it was all about: We will come together to honor our sorrows- personal, for other beings, and for the planet. We will create a container for what the individuals and the group need to navigate. We will journey together through the waters of these uncharted times. We will look at grief as a threshold – or gateway- towards more integrated Selves, increased consciousness, healing and a deeper connection to, appreciation for- and even celebration of the now. Movement. Fire. Contemplative Practice. Space for Personal and Group Work. Contact with the Earth. Ritual and community are in our bones. Re-igniting these spaces holds the potential to shift the collective consciousness and help us to bring our individual purposes forward into the world. Marcella is a long time physical theater artist. She is a soul-activist, healer and Community Ritual Keeper. Marcella is a Justice of the Peace and a Certified Death Doula.  ARTFARM receives Environmental Award from the Rockfall Foundation! "for providing high quality theater that promotes a connection to the land, environmental sustainability, social justice, and an understanding that the choices we make today as individuals and communities will impact the planet for decades into the future."  Thank you Rockfall! ARTFARM Friends. We hope you are feeling safe and sane and healthy If your body is healthy, we hope that you are finding connections that are nurturing your Essence in this time. We are reckoning with the soul of a nation- of a world. Creativity. Compassion. Nature. Loved Ones. Equity. May we open our hearts and be able to un-clench our fists. May we operate not from a place of fear, but of Love. Wishing for World Peace & Wellness & Safety - FOR ALL   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ARTFARM's new work-in-development UMBRA    - with it's earliest feedback audience   Each evening featured 5 - 7 minutes of live local music, followed by about a quarter of the classic comedy. Musical Guests: May 1: Noah Baerman May 8: Nekita Waller May 15: Anitra Brooks May 22: Bryan Titus A Midsummer Night's Stream was a collaboration between ARTFARM, Oddfellows Playhouse, and Russell Library, supported by the Friends of Russell Library. This early 'zoom' performance was quite well received (!!), and was viewed by audiences around the globe. ______  Circophony teens wowed audiences and welcomed a special guest! Instagram star, Tonka, a sugar-sweet rescue dog, joined the cast of Circophony in four performances! Teen jugglers, acrobats, unicyclists, clowns, contortionists - and a dog: you couldn't beat it! Thank you performers, directors, coaches, Tonka and audiences. Circophony's Teen Circus Spysight is 20/20 was phenomenal.   Circophony Teen Circus premieres a new circus-theater spectacle, Spysight is 20/20, February 27 – 29 at Oddfellows Playhouse in Middletown. This original circus performance features ten teen performers and an American Bully dog named Tonka in a raucous parody of the spy genre, from James Bond to Austin Powers. Action, intrigue, deception and juggling! Join our cast of acrobats as they try to figure out who is brainwashing the planet and why – the answer may not be what you expect! This family-friendly performance features acrobatics, juggling, stilt-walking, balancing, physical comedy, contortion and unicycling performed by an impressive ensemble of trained teen circus performers. The show is created and directed by Circophony Lead Artist Allison McDermott, who is a professional circus performer and instructor and is Director of Advanced Training at the Children’s Circus of Middletown. Contortion coaching, choreography and Tonka the American Bully dog are provided by Naja Muller. Set and properties are designed by Robin Leet, costumes by Marion Imbruglio, and lighting design is by J-P LaRocco. Circophony, a collaboration between Oddfellows Playhouse and ARTFARM, has been providing Connecticut teenagers with circus training and performance opportunities since 2004. Performances of Circophony’s Spysight is 20/20 are February 27 – 29 at 7 pm and also February 29 at 2 pm. Tickets are $15 for adults and $8 for kids. Thursday, February 27 is a “pay-what-you-can” Preview. Little Apple Circus at Annie Fisher School on March 17 (Canceled, due to Covid)  Circus for a Fragile Planet May 1 at Central Connecticut State University as Keynote Performance for statewide Climate Action Conference (Canceled, due to Covid)   
Calling Climate Activists, Artists and Everyone who can Imagine
a Healthy Planetary Future! ARTFARM and Oddfellows Playhouse invite you to join us for "Protest, Plays and Planetary Paths" on Saturday, December 7 at 3 pm. The event will begin at Oddfellows at 3 pm. We will go for a short demonstration/performance on the corner of Washington and Main Streets in Middletown. From there we will walk up the hill a short distance to Oddfellows Playhouse, where we will present staged readings of a few short Climate Action plays and some other examples of activism as performance. Finally, we'll break into smaller groups for a short brainstorming session about creative activism toward real change on a local and global level. "Protest, Plays and Planetary Paths" was inspired by a national initiative called "Climate Change Theater Action". For this dozens of theaters across the country are producing plays and creating actions to educate and provoke the population about climate change. The presentation is timed to coincide with the current UN Climate Change Summit in Madrid, and is the day after the National Climate Strike. The event is free.
For more information, or to help making signs and other props for the Main Street demonstration, contact info@art-farm.org, or call (860) 346-4390.
ARTFARM is back in the research laboratory and studio development stage for our next generative work; UMBRA.
Keep your ears out for any community opportunities.
  TERPSICHORE:
The Women's Movement
received rave reviews and performed to sold out audiences.
"This changed my life."
"I couldn't stop crying- except when I was laughing!"
"I just can't can't believe it. You got it. You really got it."
"...and that woman! with all of the recycling in her clothing...she was stuffing it in and it was exploding out- all of it, this being a woman..."
part of the proceeds were donated to
New Horizons Domestic Violence Services
 Terpsichore was developed from COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT & INTERVIEWS EXPLORING
THE EXPERIENCES OF WOMEN, CULMINATING IN this
MOVEMENT-BASED WORKSHOP PRODUCTION.
 Samantha Sutton, Marcella Trowbridge, Cecelia Mccarthy Reid, Malenky Welsh,
Summer Northup and Joyce Dilauro in Terpsichore rehearsal
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  ARTFARM's New CIRCUS FOR A FRAGILE PLANET
is available to tour!
Interested in bringing this show to your
school, environmental festival, nature space, kids/family fest?
Contact us!
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Antigone, Directed by ARTFARM Artistic Director Marcella Trowbridge, received a beautiful response.
Some unsolicited responses:
ANTIGONE is ExTrAOrdINarY. Beautifully directed!
Gripping, moving, perfectly analogous to us (We the People Ruled by Agent Orange), gorgeous minimal and flexible stage set and 45-degree-angled-dynamic room, and beautifully acoustically balanced, subtle, minimal sound track, powerful acting, perfect pacing, choreography, and a strong strong sense of group dynamics.
a family of actors, auteurs, and Arcturians (who teach that the most important ingredient for thriving in the fifth dimension is: LOVE).
Antigone. She’s going places. Such classic demeanor, countenance, and a stage presence so finely honed and projected...
she leaves us breathless!
Antigone was an enormous gift. You are a masterful director. We who have grown together for years, are now confronting national and global problems together. And I like to think that you, Marcella Trowbridge, in your directing of Sophocles' Antigone, were holding hands across the generations with him and with Brecht and Malina, carrying forward their intents as with a huge banner..
Antigone is the perfect Greek play for these times. And you were the perfect director.
Thanks. We all resonated with the words...with the Chorus...with the powerful figures of Antigone, Kreon, Ismene and Tiresias. Because of your careful, passionate directing, every line they delivered was strong, clear, evenly enunciated. The Directors Note in the program said it all:
in directing Antigone, you used your Craft to speak to the world of Justice, Betrayal and Hope.
ARTFARM Artistic Director, Marcella Trowbridge, is collaborating with Oddfellows Playhouse on a production of ANTIGONE.
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Artistic Director, Marcella Trowbridge, as Artist in Residence at Wesleyan University, 2018.
Mixed in America; Race, Religion and Memoir.
photo (and article) by Olivia Drake
 Link to Radio Interview with The Rockfall Foundation on All Things Green: Marcella speaks about ARTFARM, Circus For a Fragile Planet and our Environmental Work
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To see photos by Bill De Kine of ARTFARM's Hamlet production, link to Shakespeare in the Grove 2017.
Thank you!
ARTFARM Videos
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Thanks to Lloyd Langevin and Dan Nocera at MxCC for helping to make this happen!
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Thanks to our Funders: 111 Sunnyside Charitable Trust; Middletown Commission on the Arts; Pratt & Whitney; Community Foundation of Middlesex County; US Department of State; Network of Ensemble Theaters/Andrew Mellon Foundation; Fidelity Trust; Connecticut Office of the Arts/REGI Grant; The National Endowment for the Arts; & many generous individual donors & volunteers!
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