Founder, Artistic Director Emerita, and Vision Strategist Stacy Klein and Double Edge have created seven performance cycles that have toured around the world. The past 40+ years have included performance cycles, touring, conversations, collaborations, place building, residency, and mentorship.
Timeline
1982: DE was founded as a feminist ensemble collective by Stacy Klein, with co-founder and emerita ensemble member Carroll Durand, and several other women, in Boston, MA. Subsequently named the Women’s Cycle.
1985: The Ensemble located a parish hall in Allston, MA, a long-unused building at the Episcopal Church of Saints Luke and Margaret. Following renovations this was DE’s home for the next 12 years.
Concurrently founder Stacy Klein, joined by members of the Ensemble, went to Odin Teatret in Denmark for three months to research her PhD dissertation and to Sardegna, Italy to continue training and research.
1994: DE began the move to the rural town of Ashfield. This move was precipitated by the absolute economic impossibility to pay exorbitant Boston rents and to house overseas guest artists for long periods.
1997: A year later we opened our first performance space in Ashfield — the Barn. The impact of the move to the Farm was so far reaching that it can be said that if the Ensemble had not moved, as serendipitous as the move was, DE would have remained a small ensemble.
1994–2002 were challenging years in Ashfield both internally and externally. The hardship of moving and settling a group dominated the first years.
1996: Carlos Uriona arrived from Argentina and soon became a leader in the Ensemble, bringing with him a unique view on alternative economic systems.
2002 – present: The Summer Spectacle which drew an audience of 40 persons to three outdoor settings in its beginning, now draws an audience of thousands who attend for six weeks throughout the entire summer.
Performance Cycles
The Garden of Intimacy and Desire (2002–2008) — a cycle exploring distinctive visions of magic realism in Jewish and Hispanic culture, was created by Klein with Carlos Uriona and Matthew Glassman.
The Chagall Cycle (2010–2015) — imagined entirely from the visual art of Marc Chagall. Although the Song Trilogy took inspiration from Chagall’s work, it was not until this Cycle that performances were dedicated to it.
The Latin American Cycle (2015–2018) — began as a necessity to come to artistic terms with Co-Artistic Director Carlos Uriona’s socio-cultural and personal background. Cada Luna Azul (Once a Blue Moon) was a central piece.
Ashfield Town Spectacle & Culture Fair (May 2017) and We the People (Summer 2017/18) — a duet and ode to the history of Ashfield and the surrounding Hilltowns of Western MA. There were eighty local participants and collaborators.
The Surrealist Cycle (2017 – present) — loosely wove together three performances relating to the Latin American Cycle and research into Surrealism. Two of the performances were inspired by British-born Mexican artist Leonora Carrington.
RITES: A celebration of Double Edge Theatre’s 40 Years (2022 – 2023) — dedicated to the Art, Living Culture, and Art Justice which DE has embodied over the past forty years. It included collaborations with artists across the country.
