Documentary on Peabody students to have its premiere
Staff writer
Saturday will be the premiere showing of a documentary art film featuring development of a plot of silphium at Flint Hills Counterpoint’s home base.
“The Silphium Plot” will be shown at 7 p.m. at the home base, 1660 90th Rd.
After studying silphium, Peabody-Burns High School students planted a plot of the perennial and created a mural next to it.
Silphium is a member of the sunflower family and native to the Great Plains. The Land Institute at Salina is researching it as a sustainable agricultural species that is drought tolerant and helps prevent soil erosion.
Researchers think silphium has potential to be as productive as commercial oilseed sunflowers but more sustainable because it mimics natural ecosystems.
Cyan Meeks made the film, and Counterpoint executive director Susan Mayo composed the score for it. Kansas Arts Commission sponsored the production.
Switchgrass String Quartet will perform live music for the film. The quartet — violinists Ramiro Miranda and Rob Loren, violist Elizabeth Wallace, and cellist Mayo — will be joined by clarinetist Rachelle Goter.
Admission will be free.
In case of rain, the showing will be at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Peabody.