by Patrick White
The auditorium of a theatre rarely changes from play to play once you enter the building. Sure, there are black boxes that can change the seating or playing area but for the most part you know what you’re walking into.
In the summer, the weather can determine with an outdoors performance whether or not there is a show and the falling of the sun can contribute greatly to the show’s lighting and mood. At the glorious Double Edge Theatre (DE) in Ashfield, MA the environment (a converted dairy farm) is the palette upon which they create and the story is staged and nourished by its verdant surroundings.
Once a Blue Moon (Cada Luna Azul), this year’s Summer Spectacle at DE with a story by Carlos Uriona and Stacy Klein and direction and scenography by company Founder Stacy Klein plays at the Farm Center through August 2.
From the Double Edge website:
“The performance is based on lead actor and cultural strategist Carlos Uriona’s past experience with military dictatorship and cultural rebellion in his native country Argentina. Once a Blue Moon returns Carlos to Agua Santa, a fictional version of his hometown, after many years in exile. He evokes the memories of his past and the stories of the town’s colorful inhabitants as well as the events leading to his departure.”
After parking your car and checking in, you will be asked to sit in a small grove where you are welcomed by company musicians playing music, interacting in character, fellow audience members making small talk and guides asking how you first heard of the arts justice collective, DE. I was reminded of my Aunt Paula, who summered in Cummington and has since passed, recommending DE’s Odyssey 15 years ago. The spirit of community is strong between artists and audience, many of whom seem like old friends.
The avuncular yet mournful Carlos Uriona plays Aitor Aguada who addresses us and sets the stage for this memory play before we set off into the jungle where The Lunas (Mica Farias Gomez, Stephanie Reyes & Carole Klein playing acrobatic spirits of the forest) are cavorting in the trees and an industrialist Ernestine Von Badger, The Third (the quick witted and sharp tongued, very funny Jennifer Johnson) is directing the deforestation “What’s with all these flowers? Ridiculous!” insuring the village’s downfall as there will be no trees to hold back the water.
The audience is split up into four groups as we head to different scenes 15 yards apart from each other and we see scenes between the young Aitor (Manuel Uriona) and his son Zain (the irreplaceably energetic Travis Coe), his lovely mother, Maria, working the fields (Desiré Graham), a dancer’s (Victor Rafael Figueroa) assignation with the General (Michael Valladares) and a reporter, Ulrike Spatz (Hannah Jerrell) pressing Von Badger for admission of her plans. There is also the spiritual Asa (Khadijah Bangoura) who dispensed mint leaves in the grove and the Polish worker Gombro (Karol Matuszak) who gets into the river to move barrels.
The scenes are brief, illustrative glimpses of the threatened daily life in the village. It highlights the creativity of the characters and the company as they ingeniously play these four simultaneous stories incorporating the natural stream, hills and fields of flowers along with the building of small structures and a water wheel to assist them with their story while actors may travel from scene to scene in a miracle of timing.
After these small scenes, the whole audience is gathered together for a demonstration that feels like a cross with a street festival and there were many audience members who became part of the performance with their dancing. We were all led inside to Club Chin Chin which took place in the largest structure on the site, the dairy barn, and is always a highlight of the company’s performances as they have more tools a their disposal with architecture, rigging, lighting and acrobatic effects. They do not disappoint this time with a second floor stage featuring a trans nightclub singer Mimi (Figueroa again) and a truly thrilling flood that wipes out the town.
The story concludes in the pond out back which always feels contemplative but this space was especially beautiful with its windowpanes seemingly crying from the onslaught of water.
A Double Edge performance is always sui generis in its use of its farm and Once a Blue Moon is a sterling example of what they do with its great imagination, humor and scope of what they do but they have upped their game with this show as it contains deeply personal history and sharp political engagement.
Double Edge Theatre presents their 2026 Summer Spectacle Once a Blue Moon (Cada Luna Azul), story by Carlos Uriona and Stacy Klein, direction and scenography by Stacy Klein, July 15 — August 2 at The Farm Center, 948 Conway Road Ashfield, MA MA. CAST: Carlos Uriona as Aitor Aguada, Mica Farias Gomez, Stephanie Reyes & Carole Klein as The Lunas, Jennifer Johnson as Ernestine Von Badger III, Manuel Uriona as Young Aitor, Travis Coe as Zain, Desiré Graham as Maria, Victor Rafael Figueroa as Mimi and the dancer, Michael Valladares as the General, Hannah Jerrell as Ulrike Spatz, Khadijah Bangoura as Asa, Karol Matuszak as Gombro,
UPDATE – Tickets for all summer performances of Once A Blue Moon – Cada Luna Azul are currently sold out. If you are interested in joining the waitlist, please write tickets@doubleedgetheatre.org