World Premiere of BODY UNREDACTED Will Come to Brooklyn From Blessed Unrest

Blessed Unrest will present the world premiere of Body Unredacted, created by the ensemble, in collaboration with playwrights Damen Scranton and Laura Wickens, and conceived of, directed and choreographed by Jessica Burr, running May 9 - 17, 2026 in a limited engagement at The Makers' Space, located at 281 North 7th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Opening night is May 9.

A surgeon finds her heart, a painter exposes the raw humanity of his models, love is found in corners, and siblings chase the moon across space and time. Body Unredacted digs into flesh, organs, bones, into the art, science and lived experience of the human body. The show traces journeys of undying love, prophesy, belonging, and all the scars and inconceivably beautiful things that lie beneath.

Blessed Unrest's Artistic Director Jessica Burr says, "As a woman teetering on the verge of 40, I suddenly felt a primal need to break down the walls of outside perception that existed between my self and an authentic experience of the world. I began the process of Body by allowing myself to experience all that I could from the inside. I've made this show for myself, for my daughter, and for you. I hope that something can be conjured on this stage that awakens something in you. Something deep, something necessary, something profoundly human."

The cast includes Jeanette Bednar, Hilary Brown-Istrefi, Gagarin, Jonathon Qualls, Rachael Richman and Can M. Yasar.

The production team includes Shawn Young (Set & Light Design), Beth Lake (Sound Design), Sera Bourgeau (Costume Design), Jackie McCarthy (Intimacy Coordinator), Jenn Allen (Dramaturg & Creative Producer), Lauren Pick (Stage Manager) and Rebecca Whitney Klein (Creative Producer).

Performances are Sat 5/9 at 7:30pm, Sun 5/10 at 5pm, Mon 5/11 at 7:30pm, Thu 5/14 at 7:30pm, Sat 5/16 at 7:30pm and Sun 5/17 at 5pm. Opening Night Reception on 5/9, Mother's Day Reception on 5/10, Post-show Talkback on 5/14 and Closing Night Reception on 5/17. Run time is approximately 90 minutes. Tickets are $28.22 (includes fees). The show contains nudity - 18 & over admitted. To purchase tickets and for more info visit https://www.blessedunrest.org.

The Makers' Space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn is only one train stop from Manhattan and is a 6-minute walk from the Bedford Ave stop on the L train. This new venue was previously operated by a record label company in the building, and used as a social space for their musicians and for punk rock concerts. The space now serves as a creative workspace for multi-hyphenate artists.

Blessed Unrest is a subversive physical theater ensemble that transforms new and classic plays into channels for unexpected alchemy, energetic discomfort, and complex articulation. Through a dedicated and diverse ensemble, international collaborations, and a rigorous training and devising process, they are fueled by the innate human desire to collaborate, the thrill of the impossible challenge, and the instinctual need to rebel.

In the 25 years since Blessed Unrest's inception, they have performed at New York Theatre Workshop Next Door, Public Theater, P.S. 122, New Ohio Theatre, Baruch Performing Arts Center, Interart Theatre, NYU's Loewe Theatre, Columbia University, Manhattan School of Music, San Francisco's Exit Theatre, Emelin Theatre in Westchester, the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival and on international tours in Western Europe and the Balkans. They have staged 40 full productions in New York (24 world premieres), including original devised plays, adaptations of classics, and stagings of established scripts.

Ensemble based collaboration is the heart and soul of Blessed Unrest. By providing ongoing free training sessions, they offer a true artistic home to their thriving community of artists. Ensemble Training is the essential connection to the stories they tell as a company. Together, they craft a physical language that gets to the heart of the human experience. Training is essential to their ability to develop new work and facilitate performance. To learn more about Blessed Unrest's free, ongoing physical theatre training program, visit https://www.blessedunrest.org and follow them on Instagram at @blessed_unrest.

Jessica Burr is the founding Artistic Director of Blessed Unrest, recipient of the Kennedy Center ACTF Commendation for Distinguished Leadership, First Prize Secondo Festival (Switzerland), LPTW Lucille Lortel Award and multiple NY Innovative Theatre Awards. With Blessed Unrest Burr has directed and choreographed over 40 productions, including 24 world premieres. Burr is the associate director of Project Untitled, a company evolving socially just processes of analysis and inquiry at the intersection of humanities education and theater-making, and of The Untitled Othello Project, with whom she is currently in residence at Sacred Heart University. She has been recently spotted Untitling Twelfth Night at both the American Shakespeare Center, and the Shakespeare Association of America's annual conference. https://www.jessicaburr.net

Burr's productions include Doruntine (First Prize, 2016 Secondo Festival, Switzerland), Body: Anatomies of Being (New Ohio/IRT Theatre Archive Residency), The Snow Queen (2018 NYIT Award winner for Outstanding Production, developed in a New Victory LabWorks residency), Battle of Angels (commissioned to headline the 2021 Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival), Lying (multiple NYIT Award nominee), and Eurydice's Dream (2013 NYIT Award winner for Outstanding Movement/Choreography).