WHO IS LUTHER BURBANK?

Luther Burbank is a man. He is a picture of a man. He is a picture of a potato that is a man that is Luther Burbank.

I’ve been working on a project for the past semester with two amazing collaborators, Willie Filkowski and Nola Smith. Willie is a redhead and an interarts major. Nola’s hair is black and she is a dance major. Both are incredible thinkers, performers, collaborators, but most importantly, they are incredible people. They have made the weird/frustrating/impossible process of making-a-thing both engaging and very, very fun.

We’ve been working on a show for the past several months that will finally be presented in studio one (in the Walgreen Drama Center) next thursday through friday – April 18th, 19th, and 20th – with support from Basement Arts and arts@Michigan. It’s called WHO IS LUTHER BURBANK? and promises to be something very, very interesting.

WHO IS LUTHER BURBANK? is a piece (a work of dance-theatre? multi-media performance? a play? I’m not quite sure!) that starts with a found text. Nola brought to the group a book, Our Wonder World Vol. X: The Quiz Book, a children’s encyclopedia of sorts that was originally published in 1914. It is a compendium of facts, answers, tricks, riddles, games, histories, conundrums and questions. Questions like, What does a sailor do in his play time? What is tree surgery? What sort of cat is allowed in a library? and, most importantly, Who is Luther Burbank?

This non-sequitorial inquisitive barrage of a book set us on a path that led back to Mr. Burbank himself. We found him to be an inspiration, a mythic figure of history that meant both everything and nothing to us. And that is where our show begins. From there, we expanded to potatoes, to home vocations for girls, to dances, to games, into ourselves, and into the world of Luther B. I hope that you find this interesting, and that you might consider coming out to see it! I promise that it will be a great time.

Just over a week away from the performance, things are looking good. We’ve got some great stuff happening. Plenty of stuff to do, but it’s coming together really nicely! I’ll check back in a week: just a few days before our performance to document some of the tech-week process. Hope to see you there!