Part Two of Twisting in the Wind, a Memoir of Ken Kesey at Naropa University 1994 by Keith Kumasen Abbott

Twister, a Ritual Reality was performed by Kesey and the most recent formation of the Merry Pranksters that Monday night at the Boulder Theater. The play was billed as a community collaboration. Twister was essentially on tour, having already been produced in Oregon, California and Idaho. I heard of the piece when they played in the Bay Area. However, if there were any reviews for Twister, I missed them. It only ran for one or two nights. The San Francisco production remained a spur of the moment event, akin to Grateful Dead type happenings, i.e. only for those on that venerable pipeline. 

From Twisters’ minimal publicity, my expectation was a street theater production similar to the San Francisco Mime Troupe collaborative efforts. The billing for Twister advertised a “Whitman-Buddha tribute to Allen Ginsberg and special appearance by the Further Bus II….plus a surprise guest on stage! With a Midnight Dance & Party Following.” 

The performance was scheduled for 10:30 p.m. The late start was not a great concern for most. Other Rebel Angels’ events that day ran long, capped by the annual fireworks and BBQ on the lawn, typical of the Naropa party-hardy scene. However, since gossip had been circulating about hordes of Deadheads coming out of the hills, rumors of standing room only and the continuation of the heat wave that week, I arrived early to get a seat in the stifling hot theater. 

When the curtains parted, a scrim hung down stage with a Kansas farmhouse in a rural landscape painted on it. Twister turned out to be a takeoff on The Wizard of Oz.  And the wizard kept the audience waiting. When 11:00 p.m. passed and thereafter another half hour passed, the sold-out audience turned restless. 

Finally a lady holding a large plastic handbag and wearing a polyester suit appeared. She primed the audience with Comedia del’ Arte routines, reminiscent of the era of vaudeville troupes. Between malapropisms the Columbine instructed the audience to supply the show with three sound effects whenever she signalled. With the choice of doing nothing or something, the audience energetically participated. So far, so good. 

An announcer recited the history of Dorothy and the tornado, as a bright light behind the scrim, was switched on. Columbine appeared stage right, signalling for wind sounds. The audience complied lustily.  The audience watched the shadow of Dorothy twirling behind the scrim. Finally arriving on stage and in front of the stage drop Dorothy was addressed by two large disks of light appearing above the scrim in which the heads of Kesey as the wizard and the actress playing the Good Witch could be seen. 

The idea of borrowing a famous story to cover topical and local issues was not a bad one. But the political banter about the Reagan years, well over ten years past, the preachy dialogue and the pantomine setting was too much for me. It was late and I didn’t stay long. 

Tuesday morning I called the writing department about upcoming matters but all I heard was Twister gossip. The writing department’s administrator was incensed because Ginsberg had participated in an improvised part, as GinsbergBuddha. Despite her warnings about GInsberg’s fragility and multiple infirmities, the Twister troupe kept him on stage in a robed costume in an overheated theater. Allen came close to passing out, something that had sent him to the hospital the previous weekend during Colorado’s ongoing heat wave.

In the local newspaper Naropa’s President and trustees stated that Twister’s allegedly racist, homophobic misogynist characters and dialogues present in the performance of Twister offended them. They singled out the crow puppets projected from behind the screen, as the worst offence. Rumor had it that jazz pianist Cecil Taylor stormed out of the theater after fifteen minutes, appalled and angry. 

Then, the news came that some Naropa writing students announced their vow to walk out en masse on Kesey’s reading on Thursday, July 7th. This caught the attention of the press. 

Later that day I recalled that, according to my contract, my first official job at Naropa was to introduce Kesey on Thursday night. The good news was that the auditorium was going to be standing room only for sure, at least at first. The bad news was that I’d be sharing the spotlight with Ken. 

Part Three

To get a sense of the 1994 event, check out Seth Brigham’s wonderful photo rapportage.