The Catamounts ‘Pride of the Farm’ takes a page from Colorado history
Known for their theatre works presented in unusual places, Boulder’s The Catamounts have a new show that takes place outside at the historic Metzger Farm in Westminster. The story, written by Colorado playwright Jeffrey Neuman, revolves around John Metzger, a one-term Colorado attorney general in the late 1940s who started life as a penniless orphan and worked his way to the top of the state’s legal circles by dint of hard work and a helping hand or two.
As the story goes, Metzger’s parents both died when he and his siblings were quite young and became wards of the state. At 12, he was shipped off to work on a farm in Sterling, but he only lasted a year before running away to Denver where he met attorney Hugh Neville while trying to sell him a typewriter. Neville took Metzger under his wing, encouraged him to finish high school and go to law school. Metzger later bought the farm in Westminster as a place to raise his family alongside his wife, Betty.
And so the set for Pride of the Farm is the former home of the protagonist, played by Jason Maxwell as an adult and his younger self by Tanis Joaquin Gonzales. After audience members gather outside the farmhouse, they’re greeted — sort of — by a caretaker (Maggie Tisdale), who’s clanging a bell looking for one of the Metzger kids. She then gives some strident instructions to the audience about what we’re to do and where to go.
Emma Maxfield plays Metzger’s wife, Betty | Photo: Michael Ensminger Photography
(Quick note: Mosquitos abound at the farm, so wear bug spray before arriving or take advantage of the cans made available at the entrance. There’s a veritable Luftwaffe of Culiseta longiareolata on hand during Pride of the Farm.)
Audience members are encouraged to follow different characters, so what you experience in some scenes is dependent on who you follow. I sat next to Neville (James Brunt) on a hay bale sipping lemonade as he and another caretaker, played by Sam Gilstrap, talked about the attorney’s illness (some sort of respiratory ailment). Another small scene had John and Betty (Emma Maxfield) arguing over what kinds of “social graces” they should deploy for an upcoming visit from President Eisenhower. A larger scene features Metzger holding forth on politics, farm business and other things while an old-timey radio plays some Ike speeches.
Although Metzger was known for his progressive leanings and for helping the little guy in his law practice, as portrayed by Maxwell, he comes across as a purely political animal, a hucksterish character we learn little about in the course of the show. Neuman’s script focuses more on small moments than larger themes about what made Metzger great or memorable — if he was at all. There’s a scene after his death between Betty and Metzger’s sister (played by Joan Bruemmer-Holden) that focuses more on the complaints of aging and how to do laundry than it does on reflections of the man they’re both missing.
The novelty of being on a farm doesn’t make up for the lack of a clear story to follow or even compelling characters to learn about. The area the action is limited to is fairly contained right around the main house, and at times it’s not clear what’s going on or what we, as audience members, are supposed to do. This is particularly apparent at the end of the show when the characters disappear one by one into the house and don’t return for any kind of curtain call — leaving the audience to wonder if indeed the show is over and to eventually wander back to our cars.
Taken more as a slice of life than a story with a linear plot, Pride of the Farm succeeds as a series of snapshots from one man’s life. Director Amanda Berg Wilson has assembled a strong cast that’s game to interact with audience members and help depict life in mid-20th Century Colorado. The nature of the piece likely means it will come together more with each additional performance.
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