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 a legendary historical figure like Appleseed resonates 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, or a provider of alcohol and cider to 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 are designed for all-ages and begin 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 an “old timey” side show of historical and mythical exhibits and artifacts.
The production is directed by Tannis Kowalcuk, 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; chef Alicia Grega; Lenape Scenic installation Shelley DePaul, scenic farmland by Greg Swartz.
IN PRINT Volume One of the Dream on the Farm Plays 2020-2024PURCHASE HERE!
Poster design by Jess Beveridge