Milbre Burch finds new wisdom as graduate student

Grammy-nominated Milbre Burch invites people to wonder with her.

By Angela Case

Published Feb. 23, 2010

Milbre Burch is just an average graduate student, that is, if the average graduate student has been nominated for a Grammy, recorded 14 spoken word albums on her own record label, written an original play and lived on both coasts and in the Midwest.

Last semester, Burch added another line to her long list of accomplishments when her play, "Holding up the Sky," was chosen as a regional finalist in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, which involves 18,000 students.

"Holding Up the Sky" was created when Burch turned material from her spoken-word album, Making the Heart Whole Again: Stories for a Wounded World, and other traditional stories into an ensemble piece for her master's thesis project.

In collaboration with Theatre Department Chairman Clyde Ruffin, professor Heather Carver and theatre department students, Burch brought the play to life.

Following its world-premiere run last November at MU, the show was selected as a regional finalist at KCACTF.

Burch said the experience of seeing her show performed onstage was humbling.

"It's just me and the story, usually," she said. "To see what can happen when people say yes to a creative collaboration was really an unforgettable experience."

Burch said she doesn't know what the future will bring for "Holding Up the Sky," which was not selected for the national festival.

Meanwhile, Burch is working on a new storytelling piece, called "Changing Skins: Folktales of Gender, Identity, and Humanity," which incorporates traditional stories and contemporary material.

"This is my own process of learning and wondering," Burch said. "All I can do is invite people to wonder with me."

Storytelling led Burch to Los Angeles in 2008, when her 12th album, Making the Heart Whole Again: Stories for a Wounded World, was nominated for a spoken-word Grammy. The album didn't win, but Burch said she was touched by the nomination.

"We love Jim Dale," she said of the artist who won the award for his reading of "Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows." "So when he won, I thought, 'I'm not sorry. I think he's amazing.' "

Burch's family, including her husband, mother and teenage daughters accompanied her to the ceremony. Burch has a close relationship with her mother, with whom she shares her name.

"She has been my great champion almost as long as I can remember," she said.

In addition to spending time with her mother, Burch's hobbies outside performing include reading, watching movies, cooking and writing.

"Writing is one of the ways I stay alive," she said.

As a part-time student, a storyteller, a teacher, a mother and a daughter, Burch has plenty of experience dealing with a full schedule.

"I am learning that you have to put your own mask on first," she said. "If you don't have your own mask on, then you're not going to stay conscious long enough to help anyone else get theirs."

Professor Cheryl Black said Burch brought something new and fresh to the theatre department.

"She's an amazing woman and an amazing talent," Black said. "She has greatly enriched the program artistically and intellectually. We're very privileged to have her here."

English professor Elaine Lawless described Burch as cheerful, energetic and a hard worker.

"She would acknowledge she's a lot older than most graduate students, yet she's infinitely curious," Lawless said. "She's a great model in the classroom for other students, yet she doesn't dominate the class or take over or anything like that."

In her storytelling and in the classroom, Burch shares life lessons with the world.

"That's what stories are about," she said. "The getting of wisdom."