Peppermint Creek elevates stories of Lansing health care workers
Health care professionals have always had compelling stories to tell. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, their stories have become even more enthralling.
Peppermint Creek Theatre Company has a tradition of gathering everyday people to tell stories of heroism, humor and the spellbinding ordinariness of everyday life. In the past, they’ve shared their stage with veterans and immigrants. This weekend, from May 11-13, they will be amplifying the voices of health care professionals who will tell their stories in a work called “An Incredibly Human Thing.”
The work will take place on the third floor of the new Karmanos Cancer Center at McLaren Greater Lansing Hospital, 2900 Collins Road. The space will be surrounded by artwork done by the show’s artist-in-residence Barb Whitney.
Artistic Director Chad Swan-Badgero said it is important to Peppermint Creek that it creates a platform for people in the community to tell their stories. Sometimes that looks like a traditional theatrical offering while other times it means giving a microphone to local people who have something to share.
“It’s about using whatever our resources might be as a theater to create a platform for people in our community to tell their story,” Swan-Badgero said. “The second part that informs ‘An Incredibly Human Thing’ was that we’ve had a lot of success with two other productions with ‘Telling Lansing,’ which was focused on the stories of veterans and then ‘The Same Moon,’ which was focusing on the immigrant population.”
As the PCTC board discussed what they could do for this season, Blake Bowen, a board member and director of the previous two shows, suggested working with his brother, Morgan Bowen, who is a psychiatric nurse practitioner, and telling the stories of medical professionals.
Blake Bowen described the medical profession as one that is in a moment of crisis because so many people are leaving the field.
“At Peppermint Creek, we try to promote conversation,” Bowen said. “We try to get to the heart of any given subject. This whole project is not to put forth an agenda, but to take a moment to look at where we are now. How did we get here? Where do we want to go as a community? Where do we want to go together?”
Those are all questions Peppermint Creek wanted people in the medical profession to address. They reached out to their contacts to spread the word they were looking for people willing to share their stories. Rather than focusing on a particular topic, Bowen said they instead asked, “What’s your best story?”
The results were stories about how people got into health care, why they left the field and how the field changed during the pandemic.
“The tone is really well-rounded,” Swan-Badgero said. “There are obviously some stories that are focusing about the experience of health care professionals during COVID … but then others are really funny, just goofy things health care professionals have experienced.”
Swan-Badgero said this iteration of their documentary series met with a slightly different response from the storytellers. While others were eager to tell their stories, those in the health care profession had a lot more trepidation because they’ve already undergone a lot of scrutiny by the general population.
“The stories are really all over the map as far as tone, which I think is appropriate,” Swan-Badgero said. “It’s a nice night to be collectively sitting together and hearing some stories.”
Among the storytellers is Linda Vail, the Ingham County Chief Health Officer who retired early this year after leading the county through the COVID-19 pandemic. At the end of the performance, Vail and Morgan Bowen will lead a short question-and-answer period with the audience.
Other storytellers include Melissa Black, Erik Grill, Margaret Keeler, Debra Klueger, Peter Liu, Ada Mbono and Mike Stratton.
Whitney has installed several large, five-foot tall watercolors that will act as a backdrop to the performing space. The audience will be surrounded by her art, some of which the hospital already has expressed interest in purchasing as part of their permanent collection.
Whitney created the art in the performance space. The work is part of her “elements” series, with this installation focusing on water.
As they amplify the voice of health care professionals, Peppermint Creek is also hoping to draw attention to important issues around health care and health care access.
Bowen praises the professionals who are helping to put a human face on these issues, to help people understand that it is, as the title says, an incredibly human thing they do.
“The braveness of the storytellers was surprising to me to see,” Bowen said. “It’s an incredibly brave thing to do, to put yourself out there like that. It’s even harder, I’d say, than playing a role.”
If you go
What: “An Incredibly Human Thing,” stories of Lansing’s healthcare professionals
Who: Peppermint Creek Theatre Company
When: 7 p.m., May 11-13
Where: McLaren Greater Lansing Hospital, 2900 Collins Road, third floor of the cancer center.
Tickets: Free, but reservations are required
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Peppermint Creek elevates stories of Lansing health care workers
