Willie Filkowski Welcomes You to Florida the Sunshine State
written & performed by Willie Filkowski
It’s the invitation you never wanted to the place you’ve always lived. Willie Filkowski Welcomes You to Florida the Sunshine State is a sort of busted illustration of the place: a playground for human ignorance, wild optimism, bureaucratic failure, and weather–both defiant of popular imagination and deeply reflective of it. In this solo performance, which won Fringe Spirit Award at the Asheville Fringe Festival, Willie assembles a collage of popular myth and personal narrative on stage using storytelling, dance, and video.
In ‘Finding Florida, a True History of the Sunshine State,’ TD Allman writes, “Florida is the Play-Doh state. Take the goo; mold it to your dream. Then watch the dream ooze back into goo. People are constantly ruining Florida; Florida is constantly ruining them back.”
Willie hopes to ruin Florida in his own special way.
ARTIST BIO:
Willie Filkowski is a writer/performer living in Brooklyn. He has a BFA in Interarts Performance from the University of Michigan, and is currently completing training as a New York City Teaching Fellow. He typically works with smarter and more talented accomplices like Brita Thorne (Fargo/Faygo/Faygo/Fargo), Nola Smith (moves for nobodies) & Corey Smith (Who is Luther Burbank?), and Gabrielle DeCaro (The School of Professional Wrestling.) He hopes to one day become a Weimaraner. www.filkowski.com