Sunflower Musical Show Part 1
"I always call the sunflower one of our native sons. We are the center of origin of this crop," says Gerald Seiler, a botanist who works at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Sunflower Research Unit in Fargo, N.D.
Sunflower Musical Show Part 1
Why Russia? Jerry Miller, who was a sunflower breeder at the Sunflower Research Unit in Fargo until he retired a few years ago, says it was partly religion. The Russian Orthodox Church had a list of foods that you weren't supposed to eat during Lent. That included butter and lard.
Theatre for young and youth audiences has been such a huge part of my life. I've worked with every age group over the years and those experiences have not only deepened my love for theatre, but shown me that the performing arts can bridge gaps, teach and touch us all. I have quite literally seen hundreds of plays geared to younger audience members. It's heartbreaking I am compelled to write a less than glowing review for SUNFLOWER.The storyline mostly centers on 6th grader Amalie (played by the brilliant Lucky Cantu) who is a 6th grader at a new school, friendless and yearning for an emotional connection in her life. During a class visit to a museum, she engages with the art of Vincent Van Gogh (played by Austin music legend Guy Forsyth). It's through Van Gogh's intensely bold painting Cafe Terrace at Night that Amalie is transported to 19th century Arles, France and here she meets the artist. Vincent senses a kindred spirit upon meeting the anxious teen and the two become fast friends. The obviously depressed preteen must return to her own reality where she faces the junior high mean girls from Hades. The storyline itself is intriguing, but the play's scattered approach renders any point virtually meaningless.
So how did Sunflower Bean come to exist? Well, Kivlen and Faber have a long-standing friendship since childhood. By early 2013, the two began creating their own original music, practising and writing in Faber's basement. The name of their new band apparently came about due to Kivlen's obsession with sunflower seeds alongside Faber's concurrent love of coffee and coffee beans. The Manhattan-based Cumming, who had been performing in the band Supercute! along with Rachel Trachtenburg since 2009, met Faber and Kivlen at an early Sunflower Bean show; she agreed to join the band as bassist in August 2013, as Supercute! was dissolving. In the following year, the band moved from Long Island to Bushwick, Brooklyn, becoming active in the borough's thriving DIY scene, even as they felt ambivalent about much of the scene's aesthetic. 041b061a72