Turn Here—Sweet Corn

Produced by Saltbox Theater, Chicago
Written by Atina Diffley and Adapted for the Stage by Jim Stowell
Staring Megan Wells as Atina
JEFF Award nominated

“Atina Diffley’s memoir becomes a compelling solo show with Saltbox Collective. A quietly moving story of one ordinary woman’s ability to find extraordinary strength in her family, community and herself. Diffley’s voice, translated by Stowell and embodied by Wells, is poetic and spiritual about the power of the land without ever becoming precious. Respect for the land and its history runs through her story, which also resonates with wit, warmth and a quite steading belief in the power of resistance. ‘Terror does not always mean run,’ Well’s Diffley reminds us, ‘It can mean fight.’” (January 2020)

I lived about a half a mile north of Rosemount, MN and about 2-3 miles up the highway from Atina and her husband Martin and I knew Martin pretty well. Country neighbors. They owned an organic farm and during the winter I would walk the wooded parts of their land and follow farm roads. Never, never walking across one of the working fields, even in the winter. A major part of the book and the play is about land I had walked over.  

In season they had a roadside stand that sold produce from their farm. Every day, next to the highway they put up, and at the end of the day took down, a hand painted sign that said, Turn Here and painted underneath is an arrow pointing off the road at the roadside stand. Underneath the arrow was painted, Sweet Corn. I passed the roadside stand every day I drove to Minneapolis to work at The Palace Theater. Their sweetcorn was the best.