JACK Launches Its 2023 Spring/Summer Season!

Brooklyn performance and civic space JACK shines a light on healing and renewed connection in their 2023 spring-summer-season!

The season begins with Janelle Lawrence and Sugar Vendil's call for Black and Asian solidarity, followed by open studios and live sculpture by activist and abstract performance artist IV Castellanos. Dance artists Candace Taylor and The DynamitExperience embody inquiries into interdependence and consent as Eisa Davis transforms JACK into a contemporary art museum cultivating divine Black feminine practices.

Returning from JACK's performance festival, Radical Acts, Ian Askew manifests a dream confessional meditating on collective care while longtime JACK partner Oye Group follow up with a delicious array of performances - Ghetto Hors D'oeuvres, an ode to the streets of New York City.

The season closes with a week of workshops and panels curated by x Senn-Yuen and produced by Experimental Bitch aimed at amplifying disabled joy. Other JACK offerings include rescheduled new work by Peter Mills Weiss and Julia Mounsey and conversations and musical performances curated by the Clinton Hill community.

THE SEASON:

Janelle Lawrence & Sugar Vendil

BÄ€S: The Harmony Between Me and You
February 19 - February 25

Conceived and Performed by Janelle Lawrence and Sugar Vendil, BÄ€S: The Harmony Between Me and You is an interactive performance that addresses racial tensions between Black and Asian Americans and invites audiences to reflect on their own intercultural connections. Through facilitated moments of music, dance, storytelling, and videography Lawrence and Vendil forge a call for solidarity.

IV Castellanos: Leche Hervida

Open Studio March 14 - 16 | Performances March 17 - 18

In Leche Hervida, IV Castellanos is working with four intentions: Duplicate||Physical||Structure||Weight. Castellanos is an abstract performance artist, sculptor, land defender and water protector in training. This performance is the body with constructed objects that deconstruct. Prior to the two night performance run, audiences will be able to view Their sculptural installation during 'Open Studio' hours. During these hours those who are willing to participate, can accept Castellanos' invitation for conversation while They cast the participant's hand.

Candace Taylor: Effervescent Encounters

April 14 - April 16

Choreographed by Candace Taylor, Effervescent Encounters is a dance piece exploring the magic that occurs when the light in one person witnesses and intertwines with another. Through our stories - individual and collective - we investigate the power of interdependence through the body. Audiences and performers will ground together in their humanity - both active participants in the piece. Scream, cry, laugh, it's up to you - just bring your light and Candace will make magic with you.

Eisa Davis: The Essentialisn't

May 4 - May 13

Award-winning creator and actor Eisa Davis transforms JACK into a contemporary art museum hosting The Essentialisn't - a transatlantic undrowning --- in a pasture of hair. This original sound-based conceptual art work uses movement, voice and electronics to reanimate modernist figures from the Harlem Renaissance. Focusing on a central question - "Can you be black and not perform?" Davis cultivates a black feminine practice of presence and sovereignty.

Peter Mills Weiss and Julia Mounsey: Open Mic Night

June 1 - June 4

Postponed from 2022, Peter Mills Weiss and Julia Mounsey return to JACK to preview Open Mic Night - a wake, held for a venue that never existed. Embracing the chaos and demise of a bygone performance scene, this new work promises jokes, several reenactments, and even some snacks. Open Mic Night culminates in a eulogy - a speech celebrating not only the life of the fictional space, but of every real space we have lost, and the many lives we led in those spaces.

Ian Askew: Until Other Times

June 15 - June 17

Fresh from JACK's 2022 Radical Acts Festival, music and theater artist Ian Askew performs Until Other Times as part of our JACK Labs Series. You are invited to attend a memorial service, a dream confessional, a slow dance at the end of the world. Until Other Times considers how human and non-human animals navigate the fabricated scarcity of colonial economies, rejecting imposed limitations on our memory, our environment, and our capacity to care for one another. Directed and performed by Ian Andrew Askew, featuring Kiara Benn, Jailyn Phillips-Wiley, and Sifiso Mabena.

The DynamitExperience: In Lieu of the Option is What?

July 6 - July 8

In Lieu of the Option is What? is a dance piece co-choreographed by Winston Dynamite Brown and Latra Ann Wilson. Responding to the current socio-political atmosphere stripping choice away from women, BIPOC and LGBTQ+ people, the ensemble of The DynamitExperience reckon with the real impact of this climate on their members and their communities. Pairing electric dance with live jazz composition, they will funnel their energy, angst, and uncertainty into art aimed at sparking conversation within the Brooklyn neighborhoods where they stem from, live, and create.

Oye Group: Ghetto Hors D'oeuvres, an ode to the streets of New York City'

July 27 - July 29

JACK partners with Oye Group to present Ghetto Hors D'oeuvres: an ode to the streets of New York City! A festival where rappers, musicians, and poets break down barriers to collaboratively create and decipher their block. Filled with conversation, music, dance, and hors d'oeuvres, the audience enjoys a diverse group of NYC artists creating art around this year's theme - healing.

Experimental Bitch: Bitchin' Heals

August 8 - August 13

JACK and Experimental Bitch invite you to Bitchin' Heals: a week of events, workshops and panels. Upending a trauma-centered narrative, Bitchin' Heals amplifies disabled joy while putting disabled artists and accessibility at the forefront. Curated by x senn-yuen and featuring NYC-based artist-activists. Tickets released in March on Experimental Bitch's website.

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR SEASON

JACK is a non-profit Obie Award-winning performance meets civic space located in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. Founded in 2012, JACK was created to fuel experiments in art and activism, collaborating with artists and neighbors to build a more just and vibrant society. We present over 75 shows a year in theater, dance, and music as well as hold conversations that are vital to the local community. JACK's programming centers artists of color and those dedicated to our collective liberation. www.jackny.org