Body of Bourne by John Belluso

"Belluso challenges perceived notions of what it means to be disabled, writing about the topic in fresh and disarming ways."

"How does it happen that so remarkable, so "famous," a man is so little known? I have never heard of him until this play. Bourne was a graduate of Columbia University, but in my edition of the Columbia Encyclopedia there is no mention of him. Thanks to the Taper and its Other Voices [program] for bringing the invisible to light."

"There is some poetry in Belluso's language, but above all there's a heartfelt honesty to it and a notable lack of the awkwardness that so often afflict works that attempt to condense a life in this fashion."

"Bourne's is a great life story begging for idiosyncratic theatrical treatment. Playwright John Belluso clearly has a lot of talent."

"By his untimely death in the flu epidemic of 1918, Bourne had made an indelible place for himself among the radical thinkers of his age. And, in retrospect, he helped begin the process of the acceptance of the physically disabled into mainstream society simply by refusing to crumble under the intimidating discrimination of his time. What The Body of Bourne does is to make all of that human, and accessible. It's a remarkable feat all by itself."

"A moving work."

"Always thoughtful and full of affection for its remarkable title character."

"John Belluso's edifying drama chronicles this extraordinary man's life."