"Butterfly Rising"

Last week Pacific Science Center’s Tropical Butterfly House had a very special guest: actress, writer and director Tanya Wright. Ms. Wright is in Seattle for the world premier of her movie “Butterfly Rising”, an entrant in the Langston Hughes African American Film Festival.



Ms. Wright, best known for her appearances on the HBO television show “True Blood,” was preparing for her first Seattle visit. A quick search of the word “butterfly” brought up our exhibit, and Ms. Wright immediately called Life Sciences manager Sarah Moore to invite people involved in its operation to the film’s premier. In exchange, Sarah invited Ms. Wright on a personal backstage tour of our Tropical Butterfly House complete with a visit to the emerging room. There, Ms. Wright got to hold a pupa in her hand as she felt the warmth of the life force that is inside a small chrysalis.


As this visit reinforces, the facts we learn in science class do not have to stay there. The journey of a butterfly, from egg through caterpillar, pupa and on to a winged adult may be an intriguing biological phenomenon to one person, and a jumping off place for artistic inspiration for another.


“Butterfly Rising” is not a “bug” movie, but rather a story that uses the process of metamorphosis as a metaphor for growth and change of the movies’ characters. The world premier is on Sunday May 8 at 6pm at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center.