Telluride Theatre

Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” has proved divisive in communities from northern Colorado to New York state. This special stage work by Telluride Theatre plumbs the depths of those divides and examines the stories of people living on lands affected by resource extraction. Telluride Theatre is a community theater company that formed in 2011 when the avante-garde SquidShow Theatre merged with the longrunning Telluride Repertory Theatre. The small, scrappy and innovative company produces a year-round slate of theatrical treasures for Telluride audiences: musicals, original works, comedies, educational pieces, Shakespeare and burlesque shows. For this special Mountainfilm performance, Telluride Theatre Executive Director Colin Sullivan and Artistic Director Sasha Sullivan partnered with Paul Zimet and Ellen Maddow of renowned New York Citybased company Talking Band for an original play that blends activism with live stage art. In “Marcellus Shale,” a rural community confronts the effects of fracking as it transforms the landscape and divides friends and families. Directed by Sasha Sullivan, this music-theater work is inspired by interviews with people living on the Marcellus Shale formation, as well as Dostoevsky’s “The Demons.” Not suitable for children.