BUILDING THE FUTURE NOW

Oct. 15–18
National Black Theatre Residency

Process Chronicler: Stefanie A. Jones (SAJ) 

INTER//STELLAR

Lead Creation & Direction by Ebony Noelle Golden

In pursuit of joy, Luna B., Celeste, and Natasha share an encounter that may change their lives forever… August 2020. Harlem, NY. Three evenings prior to an unprecedented cosmic event, INTER//STELLAR follows the lives of Luna B. (a chef), Celeste (an artist), and Natasha (an archivist) as they navigate the murky, muddy, and mundane cosmologies of toxic social media, mental health ruptures, and the medical industrial complex. Conceived as a digital choreo-ceremony, the work invites these characters, and by extension all of us, to pursue joy, self-actualization and soul(ar) retrieval in a world riddled by spiritual charlatans, shapeshifters, and soul snatchers. Consultants for the development of this concept were Viktor Le. Givens (Creative Consultant, Dramaturg, Look Book Designer) and Paris Weeden (Assistant Director). This show will be devised in collaboration with NYU Tisch Drama students. 

Love is the Message! Joy is the Revival.

Lead Creation & Direction by Jonathan McCrory

Inspired by Arthur Jafa's seminal work Love Is The Message, The Message Is Death, this new work Love is the Message! Joy is the Revival. is a digitally devised storytelling experience that examines how powerful love is in this time of much transition, unrest, and death. Through a process of sharing personal stories, lessons, and musings, the ensemble will look at the ways that love shows up in our collective lives to provide, generate, and manifest a message. With joy on the horizon, we will find what can be revived and what our revival will look like. Dominique Rider joins the project as Associate Director. This show will be devised with NYU Tisch Drama students. 

ALL DEPARTMENT FESTIVAL

Nov. 19-22

Curated by Nathan Flower
Dramaturgy by nicHi Douglas 

Everybody

By Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Directed by Candis C. Jones

This modern riff on the fifteenth-century morality play Everyman follows Everybody (chosen from amongst the cast by lottery at each performance) as they journey through life’s greatest mystery—the meaning of living.

FORGIVE US, YOU'RE DYING

A Mortality Play

Lead Creation & Direction by Joshua William Gelb

Using the original text of Everyman as inspiration, this devised process will explore and interrogate the medieval morality play's iconography, allegories, and archetypes through a contemporary lens, culminating in a new movement-based instruction manual for how we cope with death today.