Muskingum News

Muskingum University Assistant Professor of Communication and Director of Forensics Rachel Pollock presented three performances of her one-woman show Journey to Long Nose from Nov. 21-23, 2024, in Caldwell Hall’s Thompson Theatre.

“In this work, I use family origin stories with musical interludes to explore the changing landscape of my broken American cultural identity (and nose),” Professor Pollock reflects. “Each of us is a work in progress. We don't need to be perfect. We just need to be brave.

“The project began when a ten-year-old boy at a PTA holiday party asked me ‘Why is your nose so big?’ I began thinking about the questions ‘Where are you from? Where are you from really?’ and using my family origin stories to explore cultural identity and the way the American landscape for understanding and sharing our identities is changing.

“The work ultimately became both a show and a book Journey to Long Nose: An American Identity Outing,” she explains. “The two are intertwined as the book is about the show and the show is about the book.”  The book, independently published by BigFish FolkLife, will be released in December 2024.

The show originally premiered at Capital Fringe Festival in Washington, D.C. in July 2019. In August 2024, a revised version was presented in a 3-week run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. 

The Muskingum performances (known as J2LN Version 3.0) featured new sound design by David McDonald ’23, Muskingum’s Coordinator of Cultural Engagement and Inclusion, and new lighting and media design by technical director Tim Pollock, Pastor of Bloomfield Presbyterian Church. A reception and meet-the-artists panel discussion followed the Nov. 21 performance.

Support for Professor Pollock’s creative work has been provided by Muskingum University, the Ohio Arts Council, BigFish FolkLife, and the Muskingum County Community Foundation. Her primary research area focuses on storytelling.