A WHISPER THROUGH THE SPINES Offers Tucson Audiences and Park Visitors Immersive Theater

Borderlands Theater and Saguaro National Park present "A Whisper through the Spines," an immersive theater experience blending story, dance, music and song in honor of our many relationships with saguaro cactus.

Part-theater and part "day in the park," the performance guides audience members into a "saguaro world," where plants, animals, and human characters come to life to share stories of the saguaro and its role as a keystone species in our community and the Sonoran Desert. The event is a donation-based "radical hospitality" event: open to the public, but reservations are required.

The performance is the final act of Standing with Saguaros, a 3-act project commemorating the cactus and the National Park Service Centennial with various activities and performances in the Park. Previous engagements included:

• Act I was a six-week public campaign to befriend and celebrate the saguaro. Over 200 people stood with a saguaro in the Park for up to an hour. Participants shared "saguaro selfies" and stories on social media using #IStandwithSaguaros.
• Act II involved the gathering of saguaro stories from scientists, culture bearers, artists, and others shared weekly in a 3-minute broadcast, "The Saguaro Minute," on KXCI Community Radio, as well as a saguaro fruit harvesting workshop with Tohono O'odham elder Stella Tucker in Saguaro National Park.
• Act II began with the "Saguaro Centennial Ball" at sunrise on Aug. 24 to commemorate the National Park Service Centennial and culminates with "A Whisper through the Spines."

For "A Whisper through the Spines," an ensemble of 10 actors and dancers work with project director Kimi Eisele and Sharon O'Brien, director of Stories that Soar, to bring source material from Acts I and II into theatrical and dance form. Cast members include Jose Belisario, Natalie Brewster Nguyen, Gregory Colburn, Sharon O'Brien, Milta Ortiz, Anel Schmidt, Dallas Thomas, and Heidi Wilson.

Performances are grounded in what Eisele calls a "desert aesthetic," capturing the slow, often-quiet revelations of the desert, while also expressing a full range of passionate love, comedy, and tragedy.

In one piece, Schmit plays a distraught lover realizing her true love is untouchable. In another Belisario plays the well-known icon of the "Sleeping Mexican," asking us to examine our one-dimensional views of the "other." Dancer Colburn performs various desert animals, which audiences may glimpse during their Park tour. Stella Tucker and her daughter Tanisha, members of the Tohono O'odham Nation, join the performance to share the story of the family's long-running saguaro fruit harvesting camp in Saguaro National Park.

Other performances include musical and dance duets with the saguaros, a funeral procession for a fallen saguaro, and dances about the many species that depend on the cactus for survival. Ensemble choruses mimic desert sounds and invite audiences to listen to their surroundings. And in the Red Hills Visitor Center movie theater, audiences can watch a video of the Saguaro Centennial Ball, in which 40 dancers performed a waltz and a mambo in formal attire at sunrise to celebrate the National Park Service Centennial.

The project is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Southwestern Foundation for Education and Historical Preservation, the Agnese Haury Fund, the Arizona Commission on the Arts, the Puffin Foundation, Mary Jo Ghory, and others.

PROJECT ORIGINS

The project was conceived by guest director, Kimi Eisele, a multidisciplinary artist in Tucson, who explored how to dance a duet with a saguaro in a pilot project funded by the Tucson Pima Arts Council. In that project Eisele stood with a saguaro for an hour. "It was the simplest kind of dance," Eisele said. "I stood there and looked around and looked at the cactus. It was profound."

Eisele teamed up with Borderlands to expand the project and incorporate live dance and theater performances.

Marc Pinate, producing director of Borderlands Theater said the project opens up doors to consider stories of the Sonoran Desert in new ways.

PROJECT RELEVANCE

• Understanding the saguaro cactus: More than just icon, the saguaro cactus holds significance for the Tohono O'odham people who consider it an ancestor that gifts fruit every summer for the ritual rain ceremony. The cactus feeds and shelters dozens of desert creatures. Recently scientists have found its spines hold a record of climate data. While traditional outdoor activities often consider the park as "scenery" or "playground," this project aims to inspire a deeper understanding of the saguaro cactus and the many ways it contributes to the desert ecosystem.
• Fellow community members: Earlier this year, an act of vandalism in Saguaro National Park in which several saguaros were chopped down was met byextensive media coverage and a loud public outcry. Many commented that the assault on the cacti felt like an assault on family members. The saguaro becomes the beacon that calls people together to consider themselves as a species among species, members of a community that includes plants and animals.
• Supporting the protection of public lands and significant species: Saguaro National Monument was designated by President Herbert Hoover in 1933. It became a National Park in 1994, and now protects over 91,000 acres of the Sonoran Desert, including the saguaro cactus along with barrel, cholla, and prickly pear cactus, and also endangered or threatened species such as lesser long-nosed bad and the Mexican spotted owl.
• Drawing Hispanic and urban audiences to the Park: The project also aims to support two current initiatives of Saguaro National Park to bring new audiences into the park as well as expand the park's outreach range into urban areas. Specific audience expansion is aimed for Tucson's Hispanic community, a community traditionally served and represented by Borderlands Theater.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE AND TICKET INFORMATION

A Whisper through the Spines

When: Nov. 11, 12, and 13, 2016. 2-4pm

Where: Saguaro National Park, Tucson Mountain District, 2700 N. Kinney Rd.

Limited Audiences, Reservations Required:

Reserve your space and make a donation at BorderlandsTheater.org

Cost: Suggested donation $10, payable online at Borderlands.org under "Standing with Saguaros" Park fees apply

For more information visit: StandingwithSaguaros.org

Borderlands Theater and Saguaro National Park present "A Whisper through the Spines," an immersive theater experience blending story, dance, music and song in honor of our many relationships with saguaro cactus.

Part-theater and part "day in the park," the performance guides audience members into a "saguaro world," where plants, animals, and human characters come to life to share stories of the saguaro and its role as a keystone species in our community and the Sonoran Desert. The event is a donation-based "radical hospitality" event: open to the public, but reservations are required.

The performance is the final act of Standing with Saguaros, a 3-act project commemorating the cactus and the National Park Service Centennial with various activities and performances in the Park. Previous engagements included:

• Act I was a six-week public campaign to befriend and celebrate the saguaro. Over 200 people stood with a saguaro in the Park for up to an hour. Participants shared "saguaro selfies" and stories on social media using #IStandwithSaguaros.
• Act II involved the gathering of saguaro stories from scientists, culture bearers, artists, and others shared weekly in a 3-minute broadcast, "The Saguaro Minute," on KXCI Community Radio, as well as a saguaro fruit harvesting workshop with Tohono O'odham elder Stella Tucker in Saguaro National Park.
• Act II began with the "Saguaro Centennial Ball" at sunrise on Aug. 24 to commemorate the National Park Service Centennial and culminates with "A Whisper through the Spines."

For "A Whisper through the Spines," an ensemble of 10 actors and dancers work with project director Kimi Eisele and Sharon O'Brien, director of Stories that Soar, to bring source material from Acts I and II into theatrical and dance form. Cast members include Jose Belisario, Natalie Brewster Nguyen, Gregory Colburn, Sharon O'Brien, Milta Ortiz, Anel Schmidt, Dallas Thomas, and Heidi Wilson.

Performances are grounded in what Eisele calls a "desert aesthetic," capturing the slow, often-quiet revelations of the desert, while also expressing a full range of passionate love, comedy, and tragedy.

In one piece, Schmit plays a distraught lover realizing her true love is untouchable. In another Belisario plays the well-known icon of the "Sleeping Mexican," asking us to examine our one-dimensional views of the "other." Dancer Colburn performs various desert animals, which audiences may glimpse during their Park tour. Stella Tucker and her daughter Tanisha, members of the Tohono O'odham Nation, join the performance to share the story of the family's long-running saguaro fruit harvesting camp in Saguaro National Park.

Other performances include musical and dance duets with the saguaros, a funeral procession for a fallen saguaro, and dances about the many species that depend on the cactus for survival. Ensemble choruses mimic desert sounds and invite audiences to listen to their surroundings. And in the Red Hills Visitor Center movie theater, audiences can watch a video of the Saguaro Centennial Ball, in which 40 dancers performed a waltz and a mambo in formal attire at sunrise to celebrate the National Park Service Centennial.

The project is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Southwestern Foundation for Education and Historical Preservation, the Agnese Haury Fund, the Arizona Commission on the Arts, the Puffin Foundation, Mary Jo Ghory, and others.

PROJECT ORIGINS

The project was conceived by guest director, Kimi Eisele, a multidisciplinary artist in Tucson, who explored how to dance a duet with a saguaro in a pilot project funded by the Tucson Pima Arts Council. In that project Eisele stood with a saguaro for an hour. "It was the simplest kind of dance," Eisele said. "I stood there and looked around and looked at the cactus. It was profound."

Eisele teamed up with Borderlands to expand the project and incorporate live dance and theater performances.

Marc Pinate, producing director of Borderlands Theater said the project opens up doors to consider stories of the Sonoran Desert in new ways.

PROJECT RELEVANCE

• Understanding the saguaro cactus: More than just icon, the saguaro cactus holds significance for the Tohono O'odham people who consider it an ancestor that gifts fruit every summer for the ritual rain ceremony. The cactus feeds and shelters dozens of desert creatures. Recently scientists have found its spines hold a record of climate data. While traditional outdoor activities often consider the park as "scenery" or "playground," this project aims to inspire a deeper understanding of the saguaro cactus and the many ways it contributes to the desert ecosystem.
• Fellow community members: Earlier this year, an act of vandalism in Saguaro National Park in which several saguaros were chopped down was met byextensive media coverage and a loud public outcry. Many commented that the assault on the cacti felt like an assault on family members. The saguaro becomes the beacon that calls people together to consider themselves as a species among species, members of a community that includes plants and animals.
• Supporting the protection of public lands and significant species: Saguaro National Monument was designated by President Herbert Hoover in 1933. It became a National Park in 1994, and now protects over 91,000 acres of the Sonoran Desert, including the saguaro cactus along with barrel, cholla, and prickly pear cactus, and also endangered or threatened species such as lesser long-nosed bad and the Mexican spotted owl.
• Drawing Hispanic and urban audiences to the Park: The project also aims to support two current initiatives of Saguaro National Park to bring new audiences into the park as well as expand the park's outreach range into urban areas. Specific audience expansion is aimed for Tucson's Hispanic community, a community traditionally served and represented by Borderlands Theater.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE AND TICKET INFORMATION

A Whisper through the Spines

When: Nov. 11, 12, and 13, 2016. 2-4pm

Where: Saguaro National Park, Tucson Mountain District, 2700 N. Kinney Rd.

Limited Audiences, Reservations Required:

Reserve your space and make a donation at BorderlandsTheater.org

Cost: Suggested donation $10, payable online at Borderlands.org under "Standing with Saguaros" Park fees apply

For more information visit: StandingwithSaguaros.org

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