Originally aired March 2, 2001

What does the farm crisis mean to you? Maybe it's a personal story of hardship. Maybe it's the story of a friend or relative facing hard choices. Maybe you don't think there is a farm crisis.

Some Hastings College students asked a lot of people that question, and they turned the answers into a performance documentary. "Statewide's" Brad Penner reports that they brought the real words of real people to the stage in a unique production called "Middle Land."

Reported by Statewide correspondent, Brad Penner.


[Jim Fritzler] "My father always gave me trouble about going into theater, of course, just like he was a farmer, you know. And by the time I stated to grow up I realized, You're in the same risky business, you know. There's nothing safer in farming than trying an acting career really. You know, it's… it's the same thing. It's a really high-risk thing that you do 'cause you love to do it, I think. And it has to be."
Jim Fritzler grew up on a farm in Colorado. His career in theater took him to New York and to Texas. And back to Hastings College. Once he studied here, now he teaches.
[Fritzler] "I've has to think about this a lot because I grew up on a farm and lived in New York. I've traveled around a lot and I've always had to kind of figure out where I stood with the farm in relation to the city and… After being away from the Midwest for almost twenty years its all back now for me, you know. And so I'm really thinking about what this is all about here. And is there a crisis? Are the farmers just whiners?"
He sent his students in search of answers. Their assignment, interview people about the farm crisis, and tell their stories on stage.
[Fritzler] "There wasn't any limit on the assignment so they found who they found. We have grandparents, lots of relatives. We have fellow college students who are farming kids tell their stories."
The result is a performance documentary called "Middle Land."
[Performance/woman] "The only thing I considered as a crisis is that there aren't any farmers any more. When I was growing up there were farmers all over the state. I mean, I saw some cousins that had farms around Nebraska; and my cousin, Frank, he would make more money on a paper route than he does farming that land of his."
[Matt Deboer] "I thought the interviews were actually pretty easy because I was sitting around on New Years Day and had a whole bunch of my family over and I was just, you know, asking them questions about it and… Once you get someone started talking about something they want to talk about they won't shut up, especially my aunt."
[Performance/woman] "Well it will affect all of us eventually. Who is going to raise our food? I won't be here to worry about it but people like my nephew Jared will be. I think its up to the younger generation to do something about this problem."
You might think students at a Nebraska college would have some knowledge of farming. That's not necessarily so. They learned from experts.
[Sarie Fischer] "Like he pointed out, all these things that I'd never even thought about. Like a farmer has to be good at economics. He has to be a well-trained chemist. He has to be all these things. He has to be able to manage, you know, soil levels and also like, you know, the sales aspect of it. I mean, he has to do all these different things. Meet all these different people and play these roles."
[Debbie Disario] "They love it so much that they can't let go of it. Even if it means taking up like five other jobs. And I think that's something that everybody can learn from."
[Jessica Fry] "I came across people that were, I mean, like really polar opposites. Like there were people that… that really, really loved it. But then there were people that were so bitter about it."
[Performance/Women] "I think family farms are going to go bye-bye. Big shots claim that there's surplus milk but there isn't. It's just what we're told. They're simply trying to weed out the little man.
"They're taking advantage of us. We deserve that money first because we've worked this hard to get it. And… in that respect I don't think that's fair at all. But… but that's big time business again.
"My grandparents were getting like fourteen dollars for twelve gallons of milk. And now they're getting like eight dollars for twelve gallons of milk. Its absurd when you consider that ice cream's like seven dollars a gallon.
"It'll come back to the family farm, if by then anybody's around and interested in coming back to it.
"And it isn't any better, but what could we get into nowadays? What… where would we go at our age?
"What could we step into?
"Nothing!"
But "Middle Land" does more than offer salutes to the family farm. It forces the audience to consider the other side too.
[Fritzler] "I mean we have these opinions said to us in some of these interviews, you know. There's a piece that comes out and says, It's a bunch of whiners. Shut up. You know, you're getting all this government granting and all these great things. We don't get 'em. You know, factory workers don't get this stuff." [Performance/Woman] "I work in a factory. GM just laid off fifteen thousand workers. But you don't see anybody announcing a factory crisis. Oh no, it's just those poor little farmers that get all the help and attention that my tax dollars are paying for. No, there is not a farm crisis.
"There is a problem however. Too many people wanting to hold onto their traditional easy way of life. In this day and age those people need to move on, accept change and take action for once."
What story out of this production would you say has struck you the most?
[Fritzler] "Hmm. I think there's one that's the voice of a student here, performed by one of her best friends, which is an interesting combination. And her story and feelings about the farm are just very touching."
[Performance/Woman] "There just are not any happy stories. There aren't. Ever since my dad took over the farm there just haven't been any happy stories.
"Well, it's really sad. I mean, my mom knew he'd be gone a lot and she would say, You cannot be gone this much. You cannot be working like this or you will never get to know your daughter."
Sarie Fischer plays her friend, Christina Wilhelms.
[Fischer] "I'm going to have to call her Tiners because that's her name for me. She's one of my best friends. And so interviewing her actually started out as just kind of a fluke. Like we were over at her house, there's a big party at her house and… I just said, you know I need… I need some interviews. Do you want to go up and interview?"
[Christina Wilhelms] "I mean, when Sarie asked me to do the interview I… I agreed but I… I don't know, it was just an interview. I didn't think that it would really be watched by, you know, other people. It's just… amazing, you know. It's just really personal and I guess I didn't really expect that when I was doing the interview."
[Performance/Woman] "My dad knew that he'd be gone a lot and my mom knew, and she said, You cannot work this much or you'll never know your daughter. But he did."
[Fischer] "Interviewing her was weird because she's such an upbeat, charismatic person and this is something that affects her so much. And she doesn't often let us see this side of her."
[Wilhelms] "I mean, I don't really like people to know that side. But I don't have any regrets. I thought she portrayed me very well. It's weird seeing somebody else portray you but… I thought she did really well."
[Performance/Woman] "I'm sad 'cause I don't get to know my dad. He works at the farm all day, and then he works at the factory at night, and then he delivers mail on the weekends."
[Wilhelms] "And I told him, you know, I… you know, I thought it would be fine if he just went back to farming. You know, it wouldn't bother me. I mean… I know the income isn't that great, but I'm just afraid that I'm going to lose him. That he's not going to be there anymore."
[Fischer] "It's her life, you know. It's what she deals with all the time that we don't know about her. And I think that's what makes it so real for me to portray to something sad. Because its painful for me to know that this is something that's hurting someone that I care about so much. And that, you know, she carries that inside."
[Performance/Woman] "I don't consider that the crisis though. I think the crisis is what's happening to my family."
Just a few theatergoers braved a cold February night to see the premiere of "Middle Land".
[Fritzler] "Our goal isn't necessarily to make a hugely successful piece of theater as much as to just see what happens, you know. Nothing lost. We're in academia and we can do that, you know. So it's a nice chance to experiment with some of this stuff and… I think once we start hearing what the audience says about it we'll know more about how successful we were."
John Dobrovolny grew up on a ranch. He watched the opening night performance.
[John Dobrovolny] "But when I heard about the project I just thought, Gee what a neat project to assign to students; and what a moving experience it could be. And I think it must have been because I wasn't disappointed.
"One of the things I was impressed with was its authenticity. I could really hear the voices of rural people in some of those skits."
Authenticity may be the highest compliment these performers could get. After just three weeks of writing and rehearsal "Middle Land" touched someone who saw it. And it touched those who performed it too.
On stage Debbie Disario plays her friend and fellow castmember Audrey Fischer. Audrey played the factory worker and other characters. Audrey's a city kid from Colorado. She didn't care about farmers until now.
[Performance/Woman] "As soon as I started working on the Middle Land Project, I've learned things about farming that I never knew. I found things interesting and shocking. I might not know a lot about farming, and when I move away from here I will probably never be back again. But at least I'm more aware, and I have a better appreciation for all those people who go out into the cold at dark hours of the morning just to try to make a living. It's something I could never do."
"Middle Land" may never make the Broadway stage but the performers, the authors of these stories learned something about their neighbors and something about themselves.