Summary
Cancer. It’s a scary word, especially when it’s directed at you or someone you love, and people deal with their fear in many different ways. When poet Olive L. Sullivan was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, a particularly deadly and fast-acting cancer, in 2017, she wrote a play. She spent five months in a locked isolation ward at the University of Kansas Medical Center, and several years reaching a place healthy enough to start bringing the play to life.
The play, The Pocket Guide to Desert Survival, finds its hero, Thea, in a metaphorical desert, trying to come to terms with her cancer diagnosis. She interacts with several mythical beings as she journeys across the desert to a place of acceptance. There is anger, grief, and, yes, humor in the journey. The performance is a hybrid of traditional theater, ballet, and poetry, enhanced by the artistry of aerial performances by dancers from the Midwest Regional Ballet Company, guaranteed to be dynamic and visually stunning.
Sullivan is collaborating with Kaye Lewis, who founded and directs MRB, to produce the play in her hometown of Pittsburg, Kan. Sullivan is also a member of the band Amanita, who will provide the music for the production.
But just as one doesn’t recover from cancer, or any other catastrophic illness, without the support of friends and other professionals, a play doesn’t make it to the stage without a few angels. We need money to rent the state-of-the-art venue, Pittsburg’s Memorial Auditorium, which also hosts national touring acts of all kinds. In addition to the venue, funding is needed to create sets and video backdrops; design and print programs, posters, and other marketing materials; pay for sound engineering and catering; and provide salaries for the staff, cast, and crew.
Your donations will help us stage three performances of The Pocket Guide to Desert Survival, with evening performances on July 28 and 29 and a matinee on July 30. On opening night, VIPs will enjoy a Q&A session with Sullivan and Lewis, who will talk about their experiences with cancer and why they feel this play will help encourage and inspire others dealing with the harsh realities of life with a devastating and life-changing illness. We hope this VIP audience will include patients from our regional cancer centers, as well as the doctors, nurses, and other medical staff who save lives every day.
About the Producers
Sullivan is a former newspaper reporter and college professor who has won awards for sports writing, poetry, and scriptwriting. She is the author of two books of poetry, Wandering Bone (Meadowlark Press, 2017), which came out while she was in the hospital undergoing chemotherapy, and Skiving Down the Bones (Meadowlark Press, 2022), which deals with her experience of illness, grief, loss, and return to a new normal.
She was a featured playwright at the Playwrights Showcase of the Western Region in Arvada, Colo., in 2004. In 2005, she won Best Adaptation at Houston’s World Fest for her screenplay of Lawrence Block’s short story “Cleveland in My Dreams.” The independent short film won several awards, including Best Comedy at the Route 66 Film Festival and Best of Fest (shorts) at the Bare Bones Script2Screen Film Festival. Block himself said he liked it better than some Hollywood adaptations of his novels. An excerpt of The Pocket Guide to Desert Survival was part of a showcase that opened the international Power of Words conference in Santa Fe in 2021.
She currently works as a bookbinder under the name Sullivan Book Arts.
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Lewis, director and founder of the Midwest Regional Ballet Company and School, is the artistic director for the company, choreographing, designing, and making costumes for productions featuring dancers of all ages and levels. She has been teaching dance since 1986, and has introduced regional audiences to many original productions, as well as providing performances of classical ballet. She brings her unique interpretation and talents to productions like Alice in Steampunk Wonderland, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, This is Halloween, and Nightmare Before Christmas. In addition, she has served as director and choreographer for many community productions and was recognized as Freeman Health System’s Women with a Heart and by the Joplin, Mo., Chamber of Commerce with its Artsy Award.
Many of her students have gone on to professional careers as dancers, teachers, artists, and models, including several who have been involved in productions in Hollywood in film and television and on Broadway.
About the Music
Amanita is a collective of kindred spirits who perform on a variety of instruments including drums, trumpet, conch shell, chimes, digeridoo, mouth harp, keyboard, bass guitar, and more. We have developed a sound that blends healing tones, natural spirituality, poetry, and community. We play locally and regionally, most notably headlining at the Heartland Pagan Festival near Kansas City in 2022. Our music can be found on Bandcamp and YouTube. Many of the songs used in The Pocket Guide to Desert Survival are on our CDs. Our music has also been featured on International Pagan Radio, twice making the weekly Top 20 list. Members are Liz Darling, Zach Ferguson, West Morrison, Ryan O'Toole, Kelli Passeri, Steve Passeri, Lastacia Ross, and Olive Sullivan.![]()
What We Need & What You Get
Bone Deep Productions is trying to raise $25,000 to fund this production. All funds raised will go toward expenses and salaries for those lending their unique talents to creating a memorable experience for the audience.
Perks start at $25 for a VIP ticket to Opening Night, which includes a Q&A session with Olive and Kaye and post-performance Afterglow where patrons can chat with the cast (another performance can be substituted but will not include the afterglow).
Other perks include commemorative posters signed by the cast, T-shirts, or a commemorative DVD of the production. There are also packages that include several perks.
We have a special perk for Opening Night only for box seating for up to eight people. They'll each receive a T-shirt, and a signed poster. They will attend the Q&A and Afterglow. The box will include a banner with your company or group's name on it. This perk is available for $1,000.
Want to donate still more? You’ll receive T-shirt, poster, and DVD, plus our undying gratitude. You can also choose to donate without receiving a perk. Just let us know. You will have helped make our dreams come true, including those of our young dancers, who will get the opportunity to perform on stage, some of them for the first time.
The Impact
One effect of devastating illness is the isolation you feel. For Sullivan, the isolation was literal: a locked ward in the hospital where visitors had to go through an airlock to visit her. But even if you spend your recovery at home and surrounded by family, it's a hard, scary journey. It’s our hope that this play will encourage others dealing with the aftermath of cancer.
And let’s not forget the caregivers. Lewis is familiar with this role; her beloved dance mentor died of brain cancer, and a year later, she lost her father to bone cancer. In Olive's case, her late husband, Steve Harmon, was her primary caregiver once she returned home, but during her stay in Kansas City, she relied on dear friends like Amy Nixon and Angel Abshire, as well as her parents, Mary-Kate and Victor Sullivan. In many ways, the experience was harder for them, since they spent their time worrying while she slept and dreamed about the desert.
Your contribution will help make all this possible, as well as supporting the arts in our community and beyond. We are passionate about the arts, and as funding for arts education in schools decreases, community resources like MRB can take up some of the slack.
Both Lewis and Sullivan have proven track records of successful artistic productions over the years, ranging from Lewis' many theatrical events to Sullivan's experience as a television news producer. Lewis and Sullivan both relish sharing their knowledge with students, too, Lewis through her dance company and Sullivan through serving as adviser to college students who produced a full-color arts magazine and an award-winning weekly student newspaper.
Risks & Challenges
There is no doubt that this project is a big challenge, but with your help, we believe it will be a success. Many things can go wrong between now and opening night, but our combined experience and the strength of our collaboration makes us confident we will surmount the obstacles. After all, we’ve survived worse!
We have chosen flexible funding for this campaign, because any amount of money we raise can help us toward our goal. The show will go on, no matter what, and all perks will be fulfilled.
Other Ways You Can Help
Some people just can't contribute, and that’s okay. We love you anyway. And you can still help us get the word out. Please send this link to your network and make some noise about our campaign. Indiegogo provides tools to help you share our mission. You can also share the link to our website, https://www.bone-deep.com , where you can hear Amanita's music and buy our merchandise. And let us hear from you. If our project touches your heart, send us a note at Bonedeepproductions@gmail.com. Tell us if we can use your comments in our promotional efforts.