Last Saturday, F-Word Performers were met with applause when they performed “Hold Your Horsemen,” a variety show with an apocalyptic theme. During the show, the performers imagined what the apocalypse meant to them. Some explored how the apocalypse is happening now, something that could come in the future, and something that has already happened. For many performers, “Hold Your Horsemen” was a personal exploration of surviving the most unfortunate events while searching for solace.
Lee Stanforth, a junior studying psychology and president of the organization, explained the apocalypse theme was originally a popular idea among many that the group created, but it became more relevant as time passed.
“The closer that we got to election day the more it started to become very, very real for us what this theme actually meant,” Stanforth said.
The artists worked multiple weeks over the semester with many organized events for brainstorming.
“We held four events at night, a little bit later on the weekends,” Stanforth said. “Then we had a brunch, and we asked any members that want to come. (Members) don’t have to bring any food, refreshments, water or anything, just as long as they bring themselves,”
As for generating ideas, members submitted a few prompts they wished to share.
“We usually have 10 to 15 prompt ideas we get from those events but we end up writing about anywhere from six to eight of them,” Stanforth said.
Some of the work presented on Saturday stemmed from these prompts, according to Stanforth. The writing began with the prompts during a writing event for the group.
“I personally like to challenge myself. If I’m not resonating with the prompts, I will stick to it and just see what comes out of it,” Stanforth said.
Stanforth said this technique pushed them to write a poem titled “10-Step-Program,” outlining a series of steps to stay alive during a hypothetical apocalypse and maintain a social need for connection.
Adrien Legarth, a sophomore studying theater production, is vice president of F-Word Performers. For many people, the election impacted components of their performances. For Legarth, his reaction to the theme was different.
“But to me, it was like regrowth,” Legarth said. “I (wrote) a poem about nature reclaiming structures after an apocalypse. To me, it was like (a) regrowth of hope coming back.”
Legarth also attributed the creation of his original short play, “What Happened at the Cabin?,” to inspiration from his tutorial through the Honors Tutorial College, focusing on queer theater.
“During the time of me writing it, we read (in the tutorial) ‘Angels in America,’ which has a few characters that aren’t necessarily there,” he said.
Legarth’s play featured two characters, one who is a figment of the other’s imagination during a zombie-like apocalypse.
Ainsley Decker, a junior studying biochemistry pre-medicine, recently joined the performing group this semester.
“We chose ‘apocalypse’ just off of a whim,“ Decker said. "But for some of us, the idea of the apocalypse has really been, since we’re a predominately queer queer group, a political apocalypse that we’ve got."
F-Word is a student organization at Ohio University that promotes artistic creativity in many forms, including spoken word poetry, short film creation and original music production. It is also a space for students to feel safe and find a sense of belonging among peers.
“Even just within the group, the way that we start every week is by sharing our names and pronouns, and that does mean people feel comfortable with how they identify might fluctuate, and that’s very normal,” Decker said.
During meetings, Decker also discussed ways for members to check in on each others’ mental health.
“We do something called high, low, weird,” Decker said.
According to Decker, the game is where members identify the most positive and negative points of their week, as well as something significantly weird.
“I think a big part of (this) space is us not having to be serious,” Decker said. “Part of being our realest self is the fact that we don’t have to be serious in any sense.”
Such practices showcase how F-Word’s artistic space is dedicated to creating a sense of safety and authenticity.
“I think it’s really important in our meetings for us to be honest with one another because if we can’t be honest there, we can’t expect honest art from people,” Decker said.
By the end of the show, the performers had showcased original songs, short films, poetry, plays and short stories. Many presented the audience with harrowing imagery and asked questions about what the future could look like.
Yet, many pieces also offered a resolution. A commitment to building a future where the apocalypse offers a space for rebirth and revolution.
“We’re not in Armageddon,” Stanforth said.
For many performers like Legarth, the variety show was a promise to keep fighting for a world that constantly seems like it is on the brink of collapse.
“I hope that people walked away (from the show) feeling a little less hopeless, that even after an apocalypse there can still be regrowth,” he said.
