Pulse
Second and Third Acts
When Rolland Pistulka, M.D., retired from his family medicine practice in 2001, he took on a new role: portraying James Dunn, M.D., at Historic Murphy’s Landing in Shakopee.
Pistulka had served on the Murphy’s Landing board for seven years when they asked him to play a doctor at the historical center, where re-enactors depict 19th century life in the area. Pistulka chose Dunn, who practiced in Shakopee in the 1880s and was one of the first physicians in the area to believe in germ theory. “At the time, Shakopee had four or five physicians, all of whom were trained in Hippocrates’ theory that the body had four humors—blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile—that needed to be in balance,” he says. “Dunn was frowned upon. … The doctors fought him, people didn’t like him. He didn’t accept the old way of doing things.”
Pistulka gave up the gig several years later to pursue another long-time interest: dance. “I loved to dance, but my wife didn’t like to dance, even though we met on the dance floor,” he recalls. When they took a cruise on the Mississippi Queen before she died in 2001, he noticed several tuxedo-clad men who took turns dancing with some of the women. The men were dance hosts, members of the ship’s crew who socialized with passengers, danced with unescorted women, and helped out with excursions in exchange for room and board.
To become a dance host, Pistulka had to know all the Latin and ballroom dances. “I danced a lot of old-time waltzes and polkas, but that was about it,” he says. So Pistulka spent six months taking private lessons three to four times a week and became expert at the rumba, cha cha, samba, mambo, foxtrot, waltz, and more. “It cost me more than my medical training,” he says of his dance lessons.
His determination paid off. An agent in Chicago got him an audition, and he was hired first by the Cunard line and then by the Delta Queen Steamboat Company and the Regent Seven Seas line.
Pistulka set a goal of dancing around the world. In four and a half years, he’s achieved it, sailing across the Baltic Sea, around the coast of England and the north shore of Iceland, up and down both coasts of the United States, on the Mediterranean, across the Suez Canal. He even had the opportunity to walk on the ice in Antarctica during a stop on one trip.
“I met a lot of good people,” he says. On one cruise, he met a passenger who had been his patient as a child; on another, he had to slip back into his doctor role and perform CPR on a fellow dancer.
After having danced around the world, the 77-year-old Pistulka’s next goal is a bit more modest: to dance in every one of the United States.—Kim Kiser
Minneapolis Hosts International Conference
In April, Minneapolis played host to the 21st annual Society for the Arts in Healthcare conference, drawing more than 450 participants from as a far away as Australia and England to learn about best practices and the latest research on how the arts can promote health and healing.
For the first time, the society offered a continuing medical education track for physicians. “We feel it’s very important that physicians understand the positive aspects of art in health care and promoting and advocating for them in health care settings,” says Gary Christenson, M.D., director of mental health for Boynton Health Service at the University of Minnesota, who helped organize the conference.
Among the highlights of the four-day event were performances by humorist Kevin Kling, guitarist Billy McLaughlin, and drummer Jason Gerling—all of whom have struggled to overcome physical challenges. Presentations included a talk by University of Minnesota graduate David Feldshuh, M.D., about the writing of the play Miss Evers’ Boys. Participants also had an opportunity to tour Interact Center for the Performing and Visual Arts, the Northern Clay Center, the Textile Center in Minneapolis, and attend local arts events. “Many people don’t understand what a rich environment we have in the Twin Cities in terms of arts activities,” Christenson says. “Those who did come were blown away by it.”
Although it’s unlikely that the conference will return to Minnesota anytime soon, Christenson says there is talk about possibly holding a smaller, regional conference here in the near future.—Kim Kiser
Acting Out
The play opens with a crisis—one of the character’s hearts has stopped. The question is which one? Daniel, a teenaged boy who has become obsessed with fitness in his quest to be noticed by college track recruiters; Kat, a troubled girl who binges and purges; or Paige, a high school overachiever who has practically stopped eating altogether?
That any of these characters might have an eating disorder is the premise of Running on Empty, a one-act play designed to raise awareness about the problem.
Commissioned by the Park Nicollet Foundation and Park Nicollet Melrose Institute, an eating disorders treatment facility, and written by local playwright Allison Moore, it was first performed last year at the Guthrie Theater as a fundraiser for the National Eating Disorders Association. The performance was recorded on DVD, and that recording is now part of an educational kit that teachers, clergy, health care providers—anyone who works with young people—can use to stimulate discussion about the signs and symptoms of eating disorders.
“We do a lot of work in the community, but we wanted a vehicle that would be more dynamic and interactive,” says Shannon McCartney-Simper, manager of community relations and business development for Melrose Institute. She says the play was well-received by young people, which is why she says they want to make it available to a wider audience on DVD. “It raises a lot of questions, it’s relevant to their lives, and it’s much more engaging than a lecture.”
For information about ordering a kit, contact McCartney-Simper at mccarsn@parknicollet.com or Cindy Schallock at schalc@parknicollet.com. —Kim Kiser