The Marsh Presents DISPATCHES FROM THE GREAT BURNING

The Marsh presents playwright/performer Helen Stoltzfus in her hit production Dispatches from the Great Burning: What My Mennonite Ancestors and the Gobi Bear Taught Me About Surviving the Climate Emergency as part of its Women's History Month celebration, which spotlights performances by females throughout the month of March.

As the maelstrom of a chaotic pandemic, personal gloom, and the worsening climate crisis threaten to engulf her, Stoltzfus seeks sustenance from her ancestors' extraordinary survival stories, her own encounters - both real and mythical - with the great grizzly bear, and from the silent slow-motion procession of 26 red-robed environmental activists. In this freewheeling work, Stoltzfus offers up reports from San Francisco's financial district, the Gobi Desert of Mongolia, the Big Bang, the Civil War, the Alaskan tundra, and the future.

Dispatches from the Great Burning, a hit at The Marsh's first-ever digital global festival last October, returns 7:30pm, Saturday, March 13on MarshStream, and features a post-performance Q&A with The Marsh Founder/Artistic Director Stephanie Weisman.

Prior to this performance, Stoltzfus will appear on Stephanie's MarshStream at 7:30pm, Thursday, March 11 to discuss her work and perform a brief excerpt. For more information, the public may visit www.themarsh.org/marshstream

.NOTE: The FREE performance will be available for viewing only until midnight PST, March 14. After that, the archived video will be available to purchase for video on demand (VOD) access.

Helen Stoltzfus (Playwright/Performer) is co-artistic director/co-founder of BLACK SWAN Arts & Media, an Oakland-based non-profit that creates and produces original performance and multimedia works that travel beyond borders of race, religion, culture, and politics. Other productions include a multi-media performance event about the post 9/11 wars, and a dance/aerial arts work based on immigrant oral histories collected by children. Prior to founding BLACK SWAN, Stoltzfus was a co-artistic director, playwright, and performer for the internationally acclaimed ensemble, A Traveling Jewish Theatre, whose original works for the stage were produced worldwide. Stoltzfus has been creating, performing, directing, producing, and teaching theatre for over 30 years, with her works garnering numerous awards and grants, national and international tours.

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