Michigan State University’s Corey Marsh Ecological Research Center has 350 acres of rehabilitated wetlands. Its trails are open to the public and the land is regularly used for undergraduate research projects. Image: Daniel Schoenherr
By Daniel Schoenherr
There’s always drama unfolding at Michigan State University’s Corey Marsh Ecological Research Center: Predators hunt prey, animals show off for potential mates and plants compete for sunlight.
Later this month, though, visitors to the marsh will see a different kind of drama: a play, complete with a student cast, hand-crafted sets and a story blending science education with comedy and drama.
A group of Michigan State students created the play, “The Link,” with input from experts in conservation and environmental communication.
The project is part of a larger trend that blends conservation and the arts to get communities thinking about their natural areas, they say.
Performances will begin at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 27-29 at 9422 E. Herbison Road in Laingsburg, Michigan. Visitors can show up early Friday for a 5:30 guided tour of the center.
Attendees can register to save their seat for the free event.
Ben Eiler, a senior studying fisheries and wildlife who previously majored in theater, pitched the play in the spring to the university’s Center for Interdisciplinary Research, Collaboration, Learning and Engagement.
“In conservation, oftentimes artistic communities are left out of the conversation,” he said. “Our project’s goal was to create an even playing field between the artists and the scientists with a show that embodies that collaborative spirit.”
Eiler received one of three annual $15,000 seed grants from CIRCLE to create a team of students to write, direct and create sets for the play. The center connected the team with interdisciplinary experts and Corey Marsh staff, who engaged in a series of workshops on the history and ecology of the area.
Senior English major Brooke Cousins wrote the script, dividing the play into vignettes from different points in Corey Marsh’s past.
The 350-acre property became the site of the MSU Muck Soils Research Farm in 1941, during which its inland wetland ecosystem was intensely used for agricultural studies. In 2018 it became an ecological research center where researchers now analyze how agricultural practices and climate have impacted the marsh’s ecosystems.
The play tells three stories about the marsh in the 1940s, 2018 and today.
“These are important moments in the marsh’s timeline,” Cousins said.
The play’s vignette structure and fourth-wall breaks may remind viewers of the popular comedy “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged),” said director Anthony Monteleone, a junior studying theater.
The themes and humor of “The Link” appeal to all ages, Monteleone said.
“The script reaches this happy medium where families and little ones can watch this and enjoy it,” he said.
Jen Owen, coordinator of the ecological research center, said her team regularly welcomes students to use the property to try new things. Undergraduate researchers help with studies of its plants and animals, Owen said. This summer, students helped to monitor the area’s white-tailed deer fawns, grow wild rice and band birds.
“It’s a space to experiment,” she said.
Along with the hikers, birders and researchers who spend time at the marsh, artists and poets from across the state have visited to paint and find inspiration for their writing.
“One of the things I’ve learned through faculty is that people experience the marsh in different ways,” Owen said. “We’re embracing that across the public and hoping to do more.”
There’s been a recent national focus on shifting the work of parks and natural areas to better serve communities, said Emily Pomeranz, an assistant professor of fisheries and wildlife at Michigan State and the theater project’s advisor.
“Fisheries and wildlife conservation as a field has historically been focused on narrower users and narrower interests,” Pomeranz said.
Hunters have often gotten the spotlight in the minds of conservation policymakers because they’re a primary source of income for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, she said.
“That sort of (funding) model isn’t aligned with the underlying philosophy of fisheries and wildlife conservation being for everyone,” she said.
Pomeranz and other researchers said they believe the upcoming performances will provide a valuable proof-of-concept for how artistic expression complements conservation science.
The Corey Marsh Theater Project’s “The Link” will premiere at the Michigan ecological research center on Friday, Sept. 27. Visitors should register for the free event. Image: Ben Eiler
In the play, characters express their core values and beliefs that have led them into the field of conservation. One vignette sees two marsh researchers debate whether or not human interference with the land is justified.
The varied perspectives on conservation represented in the play allow audience members to form their own opinions, said Garth Sabo, an assistant professor at Michigan State’s Center for Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities and a research team member for the project.
The team plans to evaluate how theatrical performances may impact how viewers learn and form perspectives on ecological concepts.
There has been a long history of science-informed theater, Sabo said.
He gave the example of Climate Change Theater Action, which commissions and performs short plays on ecological themes biennially to coincide with United Nations climate summits. He hopes “The Link” will serve as a model for other institutions looking to engage a broader audience on critical environmental themes.
“The science community and education community aren’t necessarily separate,” he said. “There can be meaningful moments of overlap where those boundaries dissolve.”