Wild Blessings: A Celebration of Wendell Berry combines poetry and music to create a stirring theatrical performance piece. Marc Masterson and Alice-Adrian Hansel, both of Actors Theatre of Louisville, adapted Berry’s words and collaborated with composer Malcolm Dalglish. Presented at the 33rd Humana Festival of New American Plays, Wild Blessings pays homage to Wendell Berry, an American poet, novelist, essayist, farmer and environmentalist who comes from a rich tradition of Kentucky writers.
Wild Blessings is true to its title as being a celebration or tribute to Berry. The play is not a biography unless poetry itself can be considered a kind of autobiographical road map. In Berry’s words taken from the play Wild Blessings contains “the stories of lives, knit together throughout history.” As a play with music, the instrumentation of Wild Blessings is simple and clean, supporting the power of Berry’s poetry. The play itself captures both the drama and humor of Berry’s poetry and illuminates his metaphor.
Poetry and Song
Alternately sung and spoken, over 30 poems are presented by four actors who often form couples in the dramatic depiction of the poems. The actors occasionally pick up instruments alongside their vocal and acting chores. Helen-Jean Arthur plays the fiddle and Phil Pickens plays the guitar. Larry John Meyers and Tracey Conyer Lee lend percussion skills and strong, vocal performances. Also on stage is composer Malcolm Dalglish playing hammer dulcimer and occasionally lending his own voice.
Alice-Adrien Hansel and Marc Masterson
Both self-proclaimed Wendell Berry fans Hansel and Masterson are, as quoted in a Courier-Journal article, “in sympathy with Berry’s concerns about the importance of respecting the earth and relying on a community-based economy.”
Having read nearly all of Berry’s work from poetry to letters to novels, the Hansel and Masterson adaptaption reflects a broad range of Berry’s poetry. Alice-Adrien Hansel oversees the literary department at Actors Theatre of Louisville, serving as Director of New Play Development. She has co-edited several of the Humana Festival play anthologies. Marc Masterson has served as Actors Theatre’s Artistic Director for nine seasons. He also directed the Humana Festival premiere of Wild Blessings.
Malcolm Dalglish
A lifelong performer, Malcolm Dalglish discovered the hammer dulcimer in the 1970s. He began making them, and found a calling performing and writing for the instrument. Dalglish has previously composed music for Wendell Berry’s poems, resulting in his recording Hymnody of Earth in 1999. On his website, Dalglish wrote about Berry's work: “Working with his poems about how we balance our lives with nature was like building a musical refuge.” Dalglish has recorded his work for such independent music companies as Windham Hill and Rounder. He also has his own record label known as Oolite Music.
Wendell Berry
A Kentucky native Berry has written more than 40 books of poetry, essays, and fiction. Berry a well-known environmentalist and advocate of small farming has farmed in Henry County, Kentucky for over forty years.
Wild Blessings: A Celebration of Wendell Berry will be performed both as part of the 2009 Humana Festival of New American Plays and as part of Actors Theatre of Louisville’s main stage season. Dates are March 26-April 26, 2009. The 33rd Humana Festival ends April 11, 2009.
Sources:
- Actors Theatre of Louisville (www.actorstheatre.org)
- Malcolm Dalglish website (www.oooliticmusic.com)
- "Wild Blessings pays tribute to natural poet, philosopher,” 03/29/ 2009, Courier-Journal (www.courier-journal.com)
- Wendell Berry Books (www.wendellberrybooks.com)
 |
