Play to address agriculture, land issues

[Kenton Bird <kbird@uidaho.edu>]

Visionaries:
Here's an event in mid-April that you find of interest.
--Kenton
***
University of Idaho to present one-act play, WEED, in partnership
with Clearwater Resource Conservation and Development Council, the UI
College of Agriculture and the Palouse-Clearwater Environmental
Institute
------------
The University of Idaho Theatre Arts Department will present two
performances of a new one-act play written to dramatize one of today's
most hotly disputed issues--the use of land and natural resources.

These performances are supported by a unique partnership of co-sponsors:
the Clearwater Resource Conservation and Development Council, the UI
College of Agriculture and the Palouse-Clearwater Environmental
Institute (PCEI).

WEED will be performed in Moscow on Thursday, April 12 at the Kenworthy
Performing Arts Centre (508 South Main) and on Friday, April 13 at the
Lewiston Community Center (1424 Main). Curtain time is 7:00 p.m.
Tickets are $5 at the door.  No reserved seating.  All proceeds will be
used to support the PCEI Environmental Education Fund for K-12 youth.

The play will be followed by a post-show discussion with the playwright
and six other panelists representing a range of view points from
agricultural economics to organic farming to private land ownership.

Two years ago, the Intermountain Rural Partnership commissioned
award-winning Moscow playwright Micki Panttaja to write a play for a
Public Lands Theatre Project.  The goal was to create awareness of land
rights issues and how they affect communities.  Funding was provided by
Colorado Rural Development Council, Idaho Rural Partnership, Utah Rural
Development Council and the Mid-Snake Resource Conservation and
Development Council.

Panttaja spent a summer touring the intermountain states of Idaho,
Wyoming, Montana, Utah and Colorado to interview ranchers, outfitters,
federal agents and environmentalists.  The resulting work, WEED, is a
tongue-in-cheek story about the discovery of a mysterious weed that has
invaded the land. People argue about whether the troublesome, possibly
dangerous, weed has come back because the rancher is a good steward of
the land or whether it happened as a fluke of nature.

Most recently, the play was presented in San Diego and Pendleton,
Oregon.  In November, WEED was performed for the Idaho Legislative Tour
in Orofino.  St. Louis is next on its scheduled tour of 32 cities
nationwide.

Post-show panelists for the Moscow and Lewiston performances are:
 o Neil Meyer, Professor, Agricultural Economics    UI College of
Agriculture
 o Aaron Miles, Sr., Manager,    Department of Natural Resources, Nez
Perce Tribe
 o Dan Pierce, RC&D Coordinator,  USDA Natural Resources Conservation
Service
 o Mary Butters, Owner   Paradise Farm Organics
 o Paul Kimmel, Private Landowner   and Latah County Commissioner
 o Tom Lamar, Director,    Palouse Clearwater Environmental Institute
 o Micki Panttaja, Playwright

Playwright Notes
The goal with WEED is to show the consequences of natural resource
conflicts on rural Western communities. We want audiences to see on
stage the complex perspective of natural resource users,
environmentalists, public land managers and community leaders.

We want the audience to experience the cliche, 'Where you stand depends
on where you sit.'   The play could have been written about any number
of natural resource issues in any number of Western towns. We believe
that no matter what or where, the dance of conflict and destructive
potential for local communities is much the same.

To pursue one side's course of action on natural resource use without
even trying to understand other viewpoints is to leave potential
benefits unrealized by society. The sponsors believe open, honest
dialogue at the grassroots level and a collaborative approach to
problem-solving are the best ways to fashion the West as we move into a
new century.

WEED was inspired by an earlier play developed by the Idaho Rural
Partnership and the same playwright, Micki Panttaja, called Opening
Windows. That play illustrated the consequences of destructive teenage
lifestyle choices, without judging the person making the decision. It
proved to be a powerful tool to help youth and parents think about some
very sensitive issues and to provoke genuine dialogue within
communities.