South Portland native Jennie Hahn returned home after four years in Los Angeles and found herself struck by the changes occurring to the state’s agriculture, and by the plight of small family farms.

Now, with the help of other artists and some local farmers, Hahn is hoping to bring that story to the stage.

Hahn, playwright Cory Tamler, actor Keith Anctil and company manager Claire Guyer of Open Waters Theatre Company have been spending their summer down at the farm, gathering research for “Of Farms and Fables,” a play they will produce using a cast made up mostly of farmhands.

“I was personally driven, because my family has been here for a really long time and there is a lot of change happening in the state,” Hahn said. “I’m wondering what happens when a community experiences rapid change of this kind.”

The artists, who have spent the last 10 weeks at Broadturn Farm in Scarborough, Gorham’s Benson Farm and Wm. H. Jordan Farm in Cape Elizabeth, are trying to develop as natural and realistic a feel to their play as possible, and that includes hearing from the farming community. They recently held an open meeting to gain input from residents, as well.

“We are interested to hear anyone’s opinions and ideas,” said Hahn. “The perspective and view of the consumer is very important.”

The group’s idea has been met with enthusiasm by the farm owners taking part in the project. Penny Jordan of Jordan’s Farm, where the company members have been doing everything from weeding to harvesting, helped develop the original idea for the play with Hahn. They discussed building a play around a community in the midst of rapid change, with farming and agriculture at the center.

“I think it’s a very timely project,” she said. “It will be very beneficial to show how much work it really takes to produce what we do.”

The play, said Becky Benson of Benson Farm, can only help people understand how large a role local farms play in the lives of residents.

“One of the biggest reasons that farms are dwindling is that people don’t realize what goes into what we eat,” she said. “Once the farms are gone, we will be forced to eat what ever is provided, we won’t have the choice.”

The members of the theatre company, she said, will understand fully what goes into operating a family-owned farm when the project is done.

“They’ve been able to enjoy some real life farm work,” Benson said. “It is important to see that even though farming is really hard work, it is also really satisfying work.”

After the research is complete in September, Tamler will write the play, hopefully finishing up a first draft by March. Then, the company will cast mostly farmers in the play, along with a few professional actors like Anctil. Rehearsals will begin in June. Performances are scheduled for August 2011 at Broadturn Farm.

“This is a really unique kind of project,” said Tamler. “It is a learning experience for everyone involved. Farming is very new to me. The project has opened my eyes to where our food comes from and the work that goes into it.”

Tamler said she will not know what the play is about until she actually sits down to write it. She wants the play to contribute to the discussion and debate revolving around small family farms in Maine, and she doesn’t want to put her ideas on paper until she has all she has learned at her disposal.

“I have to wait, and let the ideas take shape,” she said. “It’s a leap of faith.”

Cory Tamler, left, takes a break from work with Miguel Cruz Rodriguez and Orlando Rodriguez of Wm. H. Jordan Farm in Cape Elizabeth. Tamler, a playwright, is working at the farm as part of the Of Farms and Fables project, a collaboration between performers and farmers that will culminate with an outdoor performance next summer. Three local farms ­– Jordan, Benson Farm in Gorham and Broadturn Farm in Scarborough – are taking part in the project under lead artist Jennie Hahn of South Portland. (Courtesy photo)