One Woman Shows

Tales from Beyond the Ban: Folktales from Libya, Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen

This is a spoken word concert of oral tradition tales from the seven predominantly-Muslim countries named in the President’s initial Travel Ban. The folktales are bookended by excerpts of oral histories of international graduate students from some of those countries. In excerpts or in the full 75-minute version, Tales from Beyond the Ban has been featured at a World Refuge Day event in Columbia, MO; the National Storytelling Network’s 2018 Summit in Kansas City; the RaceBridges online project in Chicago; the Hans Christian Andersen Society storytelling series in Central Park; the Grapevine series at Busboys and Poets in DC, and Performance Studies International Conference in Calgary, Canada. The University of Missouri has showcased it through the Missouri Scholar’s Academy; the Women’s and Gender Studies Department Graduate Conference and a 2017 Unbound Book Festival event for undergrads. The entire performance was showcased at the 2019 Unbound Book Festival at Stephens College in Columbia, MO. For adults as well as middle school and up.

Audience Quotes

“The magic of the stories will stay with me for a long time. You are doing such vitally important work” – Toni Rahman

“My grand-daughter would have listened over and over again to Milbre’s stories.” – Juanamaria Cordones-Cook

 “Hearing Milbre was a reminder of the power of a good story to create empathy.” – Lynden Steele

“I don’t think I’d ever get tired of those stories.” – Tynan Stewart

Changing Skins: Tales about Gender, Identity and Humanity 

A spoken word concert of performed research on the wealth and persistence of nonbinary folktales and folk ways from around the world, interwoven with popular tales and commentary. It runs 75 minutes and features oral tradition tales from Armenia, Chile, India and Scotland, from the Inuit, Ojibway and Okanagon traditions, from the Maasai people of East Africa, and from the Jewish tradition in Eastern Europe. This performance premiered in 2010 at Columbia College in MO. It has since toured to the American Folklore Society in Nashville, TN; the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Atlanta, GA; Dixon Place in Manhattan, CA (on a double bill with Holly Hughes); at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN; the Tri-Pride Fest in Johnson City, TN; the Woodneath Library in Kansas City, MO among other venues. For adults and high school audiences.

A Jury of Her Peers/Sometimes I Sing

 In this show, I pair a 40-minute narrative adaptation of Susan Glaspell’s 1917 short story, “A Jury of Her Peers,” and a 40-minute original monologue, Sometimes I Sing. The latter is written and performed in the voice of Minnie Wright, the abused farmwife accused of murder in Glaspell’s 1916 one-act masterwork, Trifles. (Her short story “A Jury of Her Peers” is based on her play.) Sometimes I Sing is set in 1902 in the Women’s Ward of the Anamosa State Penitentiary in Iowa where Minnie Wright is visited by the young female reporter who covered her trial. This work has been seen at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN; the International Conference on American Drama at Kean University in NJ; the Mariposa Storytelling Festival in CA; the Department of Theatre and Dance at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville, GA; the International Conference on American Theater and Drama in Seville, Spain, and the Provincetown Playhouse at NYU. For adults and high school audiences.

Audience Quotes

“Brilliant research and writing… a seamless weaving of history, hardship, suffering, redemption.”
– Mary Kay Blakely, contributing editor to Ms. magazine

“Milbre Burch gives an inspired performance in Sometimes I Sing. Her monodrama is a theatrical tour de force that moved me to tears.”
– Patricia L. Bryan, author of Midnight Assassin: A Murder in America’s Heartland

“Minnie Wright comes alive in Sometimes I Sing. Through your wonderful voice her voice rang forth. It’s the voice of a woman who struggles to be heard.”
– Linda Ben-Zvi, author of Susan Glaspell, Her Life and Times

“Milbre Burch will hold you spellbound in Sometimes I Sing.”
– Bill Clark, Columbia (Missouri) Daily Tribune

“Thank you for all your hard work and creative vision on behalf of our friends and neighbors who continue to suffer in the shackles of violence.”
– Heather Harlan, Phoenix Programs, Columbia, Missouri

The Moon and Beyond: Night Sky Stories from Around the World

This 60-minute family-friendly performance contains folktales from Botswana, Brazil, Estonia, India, and Turkey told to explain – in metaphorical terms – the origins of some of the celestial bodies and phenomena that human beings have observed in the sky since the beginning of civilization. At the lip of the performing area, I create a display of objects used during the show. For adults and school-age children and up.

Audience Quotes

“Milbre’s cosmic storytelling was amazing. After she finished the stories, admiring parents and children crowded around her.”
– Tom Linden

 “Good night to be inside with great stories told by a great storyteller!”
– Nancie McDermott