Edited by Klein and Eburne, with a preface by Jonathan P. Eburne

“An Alchemy of Living Culture is a vivid chronicle of director Stacy Klein's personal and professional transitions, offering a rare glimpse into the creative processes that shaped her groundbreaking work in theater and cultural activism. Much more than memoir, the book is a guide to finding authenticity and purpose amid the complexities of modern life. As Klein herself writes, ‘Our mission is a journey that holds space for authenticity, interaction, identity, for whoever is seeking creative, emotional, spiritual, and political clarity.’ Written in a direct and personal way, Klein creates an intimate link with the reader as she eloquently describes the forty-year trajectory of her Double Edge Theatre.”

Anne Bogart

“As for a vision of theater that welcomes its sacred responsibility to create its own powerfully imaginative world — “wild, dangerous, and beautiful” — not only theater lovers but artists of all persuasion should pick up An Alchemy of Living Culture: Collected Writing on Double Edge Theatre by the company’s founder and artistic director emerita, Stacy Klein. She started the ensemble in 1982 (I panned its first show in a WBUR review) and moved it in 1992 to a former dairy farm in Ashfield, Massachusetts. The volume collects a generous selection of Klein’s texts, including notes to Double Edge productions, excerpts from letters, artist statements, transcriptions of discussions with students, addresses to workshops, etc. Also included: a helpful timeline listing the company’s decades of productions, and a preface by an academic who argues for Klein’s importance as a theater creator of the first rank, a resourceful leader who also served as “a facilitator of possibilities, as an intermediary, and as a mentor.”

Bill Marx, The Arts Fuse, December 2025