DAMASCUS, PA— DREAM ON THE FARM is Farm Arts Collective’s annual flagship summer performance that takes the audiences on a roving theatre experience across Willow Wisp Organic Farm in Damascus, PA.

This year’s performance is Johnny Appleseed: An Historical Fantasia, runs July 30 to August 9, Thursdays to Sundays. Doors open at 6:30 and audience are invited to wander through the Museum of Curious History, an “old timey” side show of historical and mythical exhibits and artifacts installed in the Farm Arts Collective Agri-Cultural Center. The show begins at 7:00 PM and will be performed outdoors. This is the seventh production in the Dream on the Series, a decade long site-specific eco- theatre series that invites audiences to walk the 25-acre farmland and experience an original play, created and performed by the ensemble.

JOHNNY APPLESEED: An Historical Fantasia explores the life and times of Johnny Appleseed. Born John Chapman in Massachusetts in 1774, Chapman went on to walk thousands of miles across America planting apple orchards to sell to expanding pioneer towns across New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. He also propagated thousands of unique apple varieties, many that are lost today due to commercial breeding of stable and transportable grocery store varieties.

Themes explored in Johnny Appleseed: An Historical Fantasia is myth versus history and how does a legendary historical figure resonate with our contemporary cultural and national identity today. Unlike legends Paul Bunyon or Pecos Bill, Johnny Appleseed was a real person—a unique individual that can be seen at times contradictory, but always entirely unique, visionary, and quintessentially American. 

Johnny Appleseed: An Historical Fantasia delves into the myth and history of Johnny Appleseed. Was John Chapman an ascetic saint who walked barefoot spreading his seeds and the New Church bible (he was a disciple of the mystic scientist Immanuel Swedenborg). Or was he a wily entrepreneur who had a nose for making money, always keeping one step ahead of western expansion? Was he an environmentalist and the nation’s first nurseryman, who happened to provide hard cider to countless settler villages? Friend to the Native American people and pioneers, Johnny Appleseed was a unique American, and his mythology is the subject of this year’s Dream on the Farm performance.

Performances (designed for all-ages) start July 30 and run to August 9. Prior to the 7 PM performance, doors open at 6:30 PM for spectators to visit the Museum of Curious History, an exhibition in the Farm Arts Collective Agri-Cultural Center to engage viewers with a fantastic and historical side show of exhibits and artifacts.

The production is directed by Tannis Kowalchuk, text by Melissa Bell, Mark Dunau, Doug Rogers; production music is traditional, by Melissa Bell, and Tannis Kowalchuk; actors are Jess Beveridge, Costanza Bugiani, Ginny Hack, Grady Parks, John Roth, Kate Schroeder, Jim Sullivan; foley by Debra Thomas; set design and scenic painting Kit Sailer and Kate Schroeder; puppets and masks by Ace Thomas and Sue Currier; costumes by Ginny Hack and Kar Flood; museum curation and installation by Costanza Bugiani, Juniper McMahon, Grady Parks, Kate Schroeder; Lenape set by Shelley DePaul, chef Alicia Grega; scenic farmland by Greg Swartz.

This performance is supported by National Endowment for the Arts America 250, Chatlos Foundation, Sullivan Catskills New York, Bernard and Anne Spitzer Charitable Trust, Robert H. Spitz Foundation, Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau, Wayne County Community Foundation, Seminary Hill Orchard and Cidery, and local business and individual donors.

Performances run Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday July 30 to August 9. Doors open at 6:30PM for museum viewing, show at 7:00 PM. Tickets can be purchased at www.farmartscollective.org.

A reception with traditional farm-fresh food will be offered after each performance. Refreshments provided by Seminary Hill Orchard and Cidery. Farm Arts Collective is located at 38 Hickory Lane, Damascus, PA. Phone number for the box office is 570-798-9530.