Jess R. Burkle '06

Friends of Jess R. Burkle ’06 call him a “blind man with vision.” And while the senior thespian may not be able to see exactly where he’s going, he’s definitely going places.

Burkle has been a powerful force within the Harvard theater community, directing and starring in a number of major productions despite being legally blind. His involvement in on-campus arts recently culminated with his thesis project “Knock: or, the Triumph of Medicine,” a play that he translated from the original French and directed on the Loeb Mainstage. He hopes to continue acting, writing, and directing professionally.

Hailing from just outside of Cleveland, Ohio—or, as he jokingly puts it, the “arts epicenter of the world”—Burkle found his passion for creative work at an early age, experimenting with various visual arts. Discovered in fifth grade by a teacher who, intrigued by his acting potential, shifted him into another class so he would eligible for a school play, he was bitten by the stage bug early.

He actively participated in his high school drama program, despite its limited resources. Plays were staged in the gym, where “we had one blue light for when it was dark—or sad.”

During Burkle’s freshman fall at Harvard, he stepped out of the spotlight, choosing not to participate in Common Casting.

“It was a period where I wasn’t producing anything. I wasn’t imagining situations all the time,” he says. Intimidated by his overachieving classmates, Burkle was “looking for excuses not to get involved.”

After what he describes as a “dull” semester, Burkle decided to go through the audition process and ended up with a couple of roles. Gradually, he became a presence in the drama scene, garnering larger parts.

For Burkle, playing Hedwig in “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” as a sophomore was an important step in his acting education. “Wearing 8-inch patent leather boots and being a transvestite and being naked at the end of the play was a little bit different than Ohio,” he says.

“That was jumping into the deep end,” he adds. “I wasn’t going to be afraid of anything after that. There wasn’t much missing from that production that could challenge me.”

Nonetheless, Burkle has since worked hard to challenge himself. “When I did ‘Hedda Gabler,’” he says, referring to his 2004 play, “I wanted to prove that I was a serious actor, that there was more to me than the clown.”

His directorial efforts, including 2005’s “Rhinoceros,” gave him more chances to show his serious side. “Thinking about the play is so much fun,” he says. “You get to create a world.”

Still, “the laugh whore in me likes acting,” Burkle quips.

Burkle, who also works as a proctor for the Freshman Arts Program and is a member of the Signet, has an insatiable appetite when it comes to creating. “The starving artist picture is a bit of misnomer. It refers to the need to fill yourself with art,” he opines. “Different parts of you get hungry for different types of art.”

For him, that includes acting, writing poetry—and watching “Alias.” Burkle’s tastes range from the high to the low, and he hopes to one day star alongside Madonna in a pop music production of “The Silence of the Lambs.” That, or start a department of Television Studies at Harvard.

Burkle says he feels that “the whole concept of spotlighting me as an artist is ridiculous because I’ve been supported by so many of the people around me.”

But when it comes to his approach to art, he’s not quite so unselfish. “Getting involved in the arts should always be about you, because if it’s about other people you’ll end up unfulfilled. It should always feel like it’s fun.”