In Pride of the Farm, The Catamounts will deepen Adams County citizens’ relationship with a valuable public asset and relevant part of their history. This site-specific, immersive theatre piece will use the biography of former Colorado Attorney General John Metzger and the site of his family “hobby farm” to explore the parallels between social and environmental justice, and how to advocate for unpopular but necessary policies, as Metzger did.

John Metzger had a rough start to life: orphaned at 12, he was indentured to work on a farm in exchange for room and board, a state policy at the time. At 14, he ran away from the farm, made his way to Denver, and became a typewriter salesman. In the course of making his sales rounds he met attorney Hugh Neville, who took the young man under his wing, mentoring Metzger in the practice of law.

Influenced by his time as an orphan, Metzger became known for his advocacy of less fortunate clients–widows and veterans in particular–and of progressive policies that put him on the right side of history, if the wrong side of popular opinion. As a bachelor, he purchased Metzger Farm as a “hobby farm,” eventually settling there with his family. The farm became known as a “model farm” due to the Metzger family’s quest to develop self-sustaining practices.

Pride of the Farm will ask–how do we advocate for the earth in the same ways we do for those society leaves behind?

Read the OnStage Colorado review of this show.

Jason Maxwell, Emma Maxfield and Joan Bruemmer-Holden in ‘Pride of the Farm’ | Photo: Michael Ensminger Photography