At the picturesque Old Frog Pond Farm & Studio in Harvard, MA, the land slopes gently down to the pond, creating a natural amphitheater beneath the Catalpa tree. Even in 90 degree weather, with the help of a little cloud cover, it is pleasant and restful. While waiting for Fugitive Productions’ Moth-like Storytelling event to begin, the crowd of over 90 people can spot fish surfacing in the water and birds diving down to dip or perhaps catch a snack.
Sculptures adorn the land and adjacent to the “theater” sits a large blue/green metal rendering of three fish out of water by Ecuadorian sculptor, Jose Criollo.
Linda Hoffman, co-owner of the farm, and collaborator with Fugitive Productions founder David Gerratt, opens the event on Sunday, August 17 and turns the mic over to Gerratt, who is master of ceremonies. An Acton resident for over 30 years, Gerratt began Fugitive Stories at Villageworks in Acton. He introduces each of the eight storytellers, some of whom are part of Fugitive’s cadre of tellers, and others who come from the community, in this case including Frog Pond Farm’s Blase Provitola.
Gerratt explains that each teller will speak on their interpretation of today’s topic, epiphany, for up to eight minutes, when the chime will cue a wrap-up if necessary.
What follows is a series of real life experiences ranging from the delivery of a baby just off the highway to the delivery of a meal for an entire surgical team, what learning to scuba dive meant to one teller, and what a director of a halfway house heard from a resident 35 years after the fact. The stories are told with sincerity, humor, and total engagement of the audience, who nod their understanding and chuckle at the ironies and misunderstandings.
The tellers and the audience are connected by common experience and learning about what is unusual or unexpected. This was the finale of the seasonal monthly event.
You can catch upcoming Fugitive Stories this fall at Concord Art, and in the spring at the Acton Women’s Club before next summer’s fifth annual four-event partnership with Old Frog Pond Farm, May through August 2026.You can also visit the farm on Sunday, September 7 for the opening reception of the farm’s annual outdoor sculpture event, “Around the pond and through the Woods,” for an afternoon of music, outdoor sculpture, and raspberry picking.
Meg Stafford is an award winning author of two memoirs, speaker, storyteller and columnist. Her forty years as a licensed psychotherapist have provided invaluable insight into the quirks and passions of the human experience.
