Supporting the Arts in Western Massachusetts and Beyond

July 5, 2022

Preview: Ko Festival, "EZELL: Ballad of a Land Man"

Ko Festival, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA
July 29 - 31, 2022

Photo by Erica Fladeland
The final summer season of the Ko Festival of Performance closes with “EZELL: Ballad of a
Land Man” to be performed outdoors on the Hampshire College campus, July 29-31. An environmental, cultural, and spiritual parable of domination and resilience, “Ezell” explores the complexities of climate change, indigenous erasure, and environmental extraction (fracking). Ezell’s choices, traumas, and ancestors intersect with themes of domination and resilience as he seeks to take advantage of an anticipated fracking boom and the opportunity to reconnect with the people and land of his raising.
 
“Ezell” is in part a study of domination in the wide range of its prominent and more subtle forms — domination between a man and the land, between a man and other people, between a man and himself. It is in part a story about how climate change, the extractive resource industry and intergenerational trauma impact the choices and decisions of a man and the land he would like to call home. It is in part a ceremony that calls to our desire for connection and belonging, that reveres nature and binds us intimately within her, that invokes the resilience, love and lessons of our ancestors and generations yet to come.
 
Carrie Brunk, “Ezell” producer and ensemble artist says, “The development and sharing of this theatrical work is an attempt to make plain and disrupt domination: to reveal the patterns of domination behavior within this character Ezell, within his relationship to others and the land, within his livelihoods and his ways of being, within his ancestry and his belief system. It is meant for everyone who witnesses it as a motivation to continue — or an invitation to begin — the work of discovering and disrupting domination within and around themselves and to do so as an act of love and liberation.”
 
This immersive experience features a guided walk through the woods to the performance site on land, with live music before the play. The performance site will have folding chairs and risers, with some ground seating available. The play will be presented rain or shine. After the show, attendees are invited to join the artistic team and a panel of local experts in the air-conditioned Mainstage Theater in Emily Dickinson Hall, for a post-show discussion on the issues raised by the play, and their local ramifications.
 
Further information and tickets are available at kofest.com. The Box Office Phone line (413) 559-5351 opens July 18.