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Photo and article by Cameron Graves, published in the Shelburne Falls and West County Independent Arts Section. Click here to read/download.
WHY TO BEE OR NOT TO BEE ?
In 2006-2007, U.S. beekeepers lost 50% of their bees. Since then, honeybees have continued to struggle as a result of factors including pesticide use, loss of habitat and stress. Meanwhile native bee species are simultaneously disappearing.
Our response is the creation of a dramatic, comic, beautiful & simple performance that inspires wonder and curiosity about honeybees and by extension the natural world. The show will raise awareness about the honeybee's plight and give children and adults tools for helping bees thrive in their communities.
STORY
Told with two actors, puppets, live music, movement, beautiful visuals and plenty of audience participation, To Bee is fable about a farmer-beekeeper named James who gradually replaces his diverse crops with corn in order to fill a growing corporate demand for corn bi-products. The action opens with a traveler returning to the farm in search of the wonderful honey she remembers from her childhood only to find farmer and farm in despair - James now paints pictures of the past to console himself. Only after recounting his tale do the traveler and James realize that by reviving the land, his bees will again be able to thrive. Part of their discovery leads directly into a real world grassroots campaign launched in connection with the show.
10% FOR THE BEES
We will distribute seeds for planting bee gardens at the end of every performance! This campaign's early collaborators include local environmental group Greening Greenfield and Vermont's High Mowing Seeds. Seed and information distribution will encourage the replanting of 10% of lawns with bee friendly habitat and transitioning to organic lawn care methods.
WHEN AND WHERE?
The world premiere for To Bee is set for our 3rd annual SYRUP: One Sweet Performing Arts Festival on March 17, 2012 at Memorial Hall, Shelburne Falls MA. The show will then begin touring to a growing list of potential venues including:
- Amherst Sustainability Festival
- Boston Playwrights' Theatre
- Bridge Street School, Northampton
- Colrain Central School
- Greenfield Energy Park
- Greenfield Public Library
- Lt. Clayre P. Sullivan School, Holyoke
- Orange Town Hall (Preview Performance Feb. 26)
- R.K. Finn Ryan Road School (Florence)
- Springfield Museums
- SYRUP: One Sweet Performing Arts Festival (World Premiere, March 17th - Memorial Hall, Shelburne Falls)
- Turners Falls RiverCulture Cherry Blossom Festival
SEE PERKS FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO UNDERWRITE THE SHOW OF YOUR CHOICE!
If we reach our campaign goal we will be able to perform at all of the above venues.
If we reach our campaign goal we will be able to perform at all of the above venues.
BUDGET
Here's a big picture breakdown:
Salaries – Artistic & Technical: 70%
2 Actors � 1 musician � Playwright � Choreographer � Design (Set, Lighting, Costumes, Props) � Carpenter � Light and Sound Board Operators (at theatre venues)
Materials: 10%
Set Materials � Costume Materials � Prop Materials
Publicity: 10%
Poster/ Flyer/ Postcard Design and Printing � Paid Listings/Advertisements � Postering � Website Design and Maintenance
Rental & Other Costs : 10%
Recording Studio � Theatre Rental � Script Copying � Ticket and Program Printing
VISION
Our vision for this play is to train other teams from the U.S. and internationally who will bring To Bee to schools and theatres in their region. This goal will not be achieved by reaching the crowdfunding goal of this campaign, but we want you to know where we're going! In the near term, we will translate the production into French for touring in Switzerland and France in 2012 - 13.
HIVE
Founded in 2004 by American playwright/performer Jonathan Mirin and Swiss choreographer/designer Godelieve Richard, Piti Theatre Company is an interdisciplinary performance troupe based in Shelburne, MA and Les-Ponts-de-Martel Switzerland. Piti (pronounced "pea-tea") is an ancient Indian (Pali) word which can be translated as joy or rapture. Our aim is to create work which lends itself to the happiness of artists and audiences. The company has been nominated twice for an Independent Reviewers of New England Award.
Piti is collaborating with Northampton MA singer-songwriter Carrie Ferguson who is both writing music and performing in the show. Carrie released her debut album Riding on the Back of the Wind in 2010 and has toured the U.S. "Let me just say it: this album is great . . . Ferguson's tales seem to leap from the speakers." - Christopher Wiley, Northeast Performer Magazine. (See the Carrie Ferguson House Party Perk!).
We're also receiving expert puppet counsel from world renowned Sandglass Theater and Chicago/W. MA based puppeteer Emmy Bean.
BUZZ LEADING UP TO THIS
In 2008, we received a grant from the Art Angels of Western MA, a group of women philanthropists, to begin work on our dance-clown-theatre nature fable Elmer and the Elder Tree. Today, Elmer continues to tour and has been enjoyed by thousands of children and families in New England. Funding has been received from sources like the Community Foundation of Western MA, the New England Foundation for the Arts and Western Massachusetts Electric Company to bring this "artful, arboreal fable" to many schools and community venues who would not be able to present it otherwise (Beverly Creasey, Theatermirror.com). Smaller-scale Piti productions like Salmon Falls and Time Flood about the Connecticut River Watershed have toured to schools, libraries and festivals since 2009.
The Art Angels have again provided a $2,000 grant to begin development of To Bee or Not to Bee. Since then, beekeepers, honey makers, and other businesses and individuals have stepped forward to help make this new show possible. Please (please!) join the hive and help us complete this critical first round of funding. We feel confident that money invested now, as was the case with Elmer and the Elder Tree, will be successfully leveraged to give this important production a regional and later, national and international impacts.
Thank you for supporting and sharing this campaign!
www.ptco.org/bee
www.ptco.org/bee
Team on This Campaign:
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Jonathan MirinCo-Creator
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