As I embark on the last few months of school, I met up with David Burke, a former theater director/professor here at Union. As a theater nerd myself, we’ve crossed paths a few times, perhaps the most memorable of which occurred last year.
Mainstage, Union’s theater company, was in its last bit of tech rehearsals when Burke came to the rescue. He sat through a nearly four-hour rehearsal. He then stayed after the run and chatted with each actor until two in the morning.
“That had been the first time in a while I had been back at Union,” Burke said. “I left feeling so rewarded. I felt needed again. Each student in the audience sat soaking up my thoughts like a sponge. I didn’t know my words would have this much influence.”
I remember that night. He was right — we students needed his guidance like a sponge needs water to complete its job. I knew who to run to as the impending days till graduation ticked down.
I sat in his living room as his wife zipped between the kitchen and the foyer, the three of us talking for nearly an hour before realizing that we did sadly need to talk business. He sat across from me tucked into a wooden chair under the soft light of the living room window. After he gave me a hug I fell right into place across from him on an eclectic sofa. Each piece in this room showed his devotion to art.
“I read that somewhere in every theater enthusiast, there’s a play in them waiting to be written. That it must be extracted in some way … usually through art,” Burke said. “Those are my improvisational art. I have no idea what it will look like until it’s completed.”
As I listened to him talk through each of his pieces on the impromptu tour I received, I could feel the same sense of passion he had for theater. You could see each piece of dedication, truth, sweat, and power in each artwork. He had completed a barrel series in the past couple of years: Taking barrel tops from the trash, he was able to turn them into various “COVID” projects to be able to work through the uncertainty of the time.
“There is a part that is so very important for us as humans,” Burke said. “How can we save the world that we are living in? It’s very spiritual at its roots, but also very practical.”
We continued to walk through the winding parts of his home, talking about each piece, even discussing the portraits of various family members that he wasn’t even able to meet. He made sure to keep those up and then pair each with a piece that he has created. Almost like a time capsule of what has been and what will be. We eventually made it back to the couch, where I could tell he was giddy to speak on his next project: “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.”
This will be his third show to direct since leaving Union, all being produced by Hub City Theater Co., a local community theater here in Jackson. He is a former board member and is still heavily involved in building sets, directing, co-directing, giving wisdom or just being an incredible audience member.
“I picked [Liberty Valance] up and read it maybe about, I don’t know, two years ago and it just blew my mind,” Burke said. “It’s so appropriate to open now. It deals with injustice, trying to outdo the law and the haunted triangular couple troupe. It’s also incredibly sacrificial. It’s not necessarily a Christian play, but the sacrificial elements become so Christlike in nature.”
Our conversation went on to touch on the sad reality all of us involved in theater face: attendance. His past two shows only turned up the exact number of actors he needed, and the shows fell flat when it came to audience turnout.
“You know the purpose of theater is to entertain and enlighten,” Burke said. “It’s two sides of the same coin. Yet you need people in the seats, and you need people in the audition room.”
My heart hurt for him. This is a man who has an insane amount of talent and passion for the arts, but that passion often misses the mark on others. As he began talking about his time at Union, he began to tear up. He had directed nearly 70 shows throughout his career at Union, and Burke spoke to me about various productions he felt impacted him the most.
“I had hardly any directing experience going into Union, I mean I had acting spirit and plenty of building experience, but I had maybe directed three things,” Burke said. “I would be sitting in rehearsals looking around to find the adult in the room because there is no way it’s me.”
This feeling was around the time he began producing “The Elephant Man,” a very heavily charged emotional work. One that set his career at Union and garnered the “Union Bubble’s” trust.
“During the final week of tech, I received a phone call that my brother had died in a car accident,” Burke said. “I had to leave it all over to the main actor for the first weekend of shows. You normally grow so much between the beginning of tech and that actual show day, but we didn’t grow. We couldn’t.”
That same weekend, a Jackson Sun reporter would watch the show, write a review for the paper, and then turn it over before opening night. She ripped them a new one, and Burke felt so helpless. The only thing he knew to turn to was prayer. The reporter came back the next weekend, and Burke knew this was his chance.
“There’s a moment where the elephant man is being beaten with a club, and you can’t fake that in a black box theater,” Burke said. “A woman in the audience was so moved that she got up out of her seat. She then reached out to help the elephant man. She looked back to the audience and had the ‘Oh wait,’ moment. The reporter hugged me after that performance with tears in her eyes. I still think about this moment today.”
Burke takes that moment with him through every project. To make the audience feel as if their world has collided with the stage. They are no longer themselves but a piece of art.
To share in Burke’s passion yourself, attend his upcoming production of “Liberty Valance,” set to be performed May 30 through June 8.
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