PRELUDE FESTIVAL 2020 Announces Full Schedule

The 2020 Prelude Festival, titled Sites of Revolution, will bring together artists, critics, activists, and producers from New York City and beyond to explore the many ways in which revolutions are taking place today. The COVID-19 pandemic has upended nearly every aspect of life. At the same time, widespread protests-spearheaded by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color-are challenging centuries-old white supremacy, white fragility and settler colonialism. Against the backdrop of this collision between rapid change and obdurate inequity, the repertoire of revolution plays out daily in the streets, on screens, inside classrooms, between loved ones, and in our minds and processes. In tandem, artists have adapted their work in innovative ways, redrawing the boundaries of their art forms and rethinking previously fundamental concepts such as "theatre," "performance," "live," and "time-based."

In concert with this season of upheavals, Sites of Revolution will offer audiences a free online platform to experience genre-bending productions inspired by this moment of revolution and reckoning. The festival will feature a wide array of new multimedia work created by artists at the forefront of contemporary theatre and performance, as well as a series of panels and other events that put artistic practice in conversation with critical discourse.

The artist lineup for the 2020 Prelude Festival was previously announced but a full schedule including further information about each piece and the artists involved can be found below.

Tuesday, Oct 20

6:30 pm EST, Franky Award: Tonya Pinkins

Join us in honoring Tonya Pinkins for her long-term, extraordinary impact on contemporary theater and performance in New York City. Expect virtual toasts by special guests!

8:00 pm EST, social disDANCE

social disDANCE is a live-streamed invitation to dance together, apart, in line with "Flatten the Curve" directives. In a spirit of solidarity, wellbeing, and uplifting play, we invite you to a new kind of dance party...

Wednesday, Oct. 21

8:30 am EST, hold

Created by Mei Ann Teo, composed by Orion S. Johnstone, with collaborators You-Shin Chen, Troy Anthony, and Matthias Neckermann

hold is an invitation to contemplative practice in queer resistance to capitalist conditioning of time, via collective gathering and recurring durational space. hold cultivates the body as site of revolution with seeds of intention sown in the morning and the rain of prayers at night.

5:30 pm EST, you niggas in trouble

Co-created by Nile Harris and Trevor Bazile

you niggas in trouble is a meme essay/lecture created by Nile Harris and Trevor Bazile that utilizes a Google Document file as a site of liveness. Examining the online formations of self under the reign of neoliberal identity politics, you niggas in trouble asks "will the revolution have 501c3 status?" And occasions an experiment in 'internet choreography' or (a hyperlink opera) as a mode of hybrid,digital storytelling. This work is presented in partnership with YAH World.

6:30 pm EST, Revolutionary Partnerships

A panel featuring Jordana De La Cruz (JACK), Zafi Dimitropoulou Del Angel (People's Theatre Project), Sam Johnson (We Keep Us Safe Abolitionist Network), Alexander Santiago-Jirau (New York Theatre Workshop), and Gaven D. Trinidad (New York Theatre Workshop)

8:00 pm EST, Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge

Elevator Repair Service. Directed by John Collins, stage management by Maurina Lioce, featuring Gavin Price, Greig Sargeant, Christopher-Rashee Stevenson, and Ben Williams.

In 1965 James Baldwin and William F. Buckley, Jr. were invited to The Cambridge University Union to debate the resolution "The American Dream is at the Expense of The American Negro." ERS re-creates their profoundly relevant confrontation in a work-in-progress showing of Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge. Special thanks to Aaron Landsman and April Matthis for dramaturgical support.

10:00 pm EST, hold

Created by Mei Ann Teo, composed by Orion S. Johnstone, with collaborators You-Shin Chen, Troy Anthony, and Matthias Neckermann

Thursday, Oct. 22

8:30 am EST, hold

Created by Mei Ann Teo, composed by Orion S. Johnstone, with collaborators You-Shin Chen, Troy Anthony, and Matthias Neckermann

8:00 pm EST, Cut Woman

Written, produced, and performed by Dena Igusti, directed by Ray Jordan Achan

A choreopoem based on Dena Igusti's poetry about an Indonesian Muslim survivor of female genital mutilation navigating the loss of her people, body, and inevitable demise. She uses her body's ghost, the internet, and webcams to realize what stays in a world shaped by what is and will be lost.

10:00 pm EST, hold

Created by Mei Ann Teo, composed by Orion S. Johnstone, with collaborators You-Shin Chen, Troy Anthony, and Matthias Neckermann

Friday, Oct. 23

8:30 am EST, hold

Created by Mei Ann Teo, composed by Orion S. Johnstone, with collaborators You-Shin Chen, Troy Anthony, and Matthias Neckermann

5:30 pm EST, Speedrun

Written, edited, and sound/projection design by Zachariah Ezer, directed by Dominique Rider, with performances by Imani Russell, Namakula, Brandon Bogle, Ethan Fox, and camerawork by Elizaveta Kravchenko.

In a fantasy kingdom, a princess and her captor's magical lackey dream of social change, the overthrow of the local crime boss, and rescue from an overall-clad hero. Speedrun explores the idea that social movements are built on Black bodies who are then excluded when those movements reach the mainstream.

8:00 pm EST, Vichitra

Created, directed, and produced by Shayok Misha Chowdhury, art direction and video by Kameron Neal, sound design by Jeremy S. Bloom

Vichitra is an experiment in queer South Asian imagination. In the first episode, An Anthology of Queer Dreams, we eavesdrop on LGBTQ+ South Asian folx across the world through anonymous, intimate, intricate recollections of their dreams. The second episode, Englandbashi, is a contemporary ghost story about taking reincarnation (too?) seriously.

10:00 pm EST hold

Created by Mei Ann Teo, composed by Orion S. Johnstone, with collaborators You-Shin Chen, Troy Anthony, and Matthias Neckermann

Tuesday, Oct. 27

8:30 am EST, hold

Created by Mei Ann Teo, composed by Orion S. Johnstone, with collaborators You-Shin Chen, Troy Anthony, and Matthias Neckermann

5:30 pm EST, Striking the Balance: A Conversation with MENASA Theatre Artists Working in Non-Traditional Styles

A panel featuring Avi Amon, Mariam Bazeed, Kareem Fahmy, and Moe Yousuf

7:00 pm EST, Una niña, una familia, un pueblo

Directed and video designed by Stefania Bulbarella with performances by Eugenia Diaz Cosentino, Delfina Kavulakian, Dominique Melhem, Flow Gateño, and Camila Taleisnik

Una niña, una familia, un pueblo is a developmental work in progress based on the memoir of María Melizza. Focusing on her memories as a child this piece explores her journey as an immigrant from Italy arriving in Argentina after escaping the Second World War. In the midst of devastation, "cuando no hay patria ni enemigos, vencedores ni vencidos," we are left with each other in order to survive.

Based on the memoir of Maria Isabella Melizza - Una niña, una familia, un pueblo

8:00 pm EST, How We Get Through

Created by Kareem M. Lucas

At an unprecedented time when our industry remains at a virtual standstill during a simultaneous global pandemic and national uprising on the cusp of a generation defining presidential election, this piece uses intercut interviews with various artists to excavate the meaning of this moment. In this short film, Kareem M. Lucas has created and shared a brief list of personal questions for married artists from all over the country to transparently answer while recording themselves. Weaving together a timely and timeless collage of how we get through this trauma, grief, fear, and uncertainty, while continuing to dare to live.

10:00 pm EST, hold

Created by Mei Ann Teo, composed by Orion S. Johnstone, with collaborators You-Shin Chen, Troy Anthony, and Matthias Neckermann

Wednesday, Oct. 28

8:30 am EST, hold

Created by Mei Ann Teo, composed by Orion S. Johnstone, with collaborators You-Shin Chen, Troy Anthony, and Matthias Neckermann

6:30 pm EST, Get Rid of the Gala!: Artists and Arts Workers Reimagine What Could Take Its Place

A panel featuring Cynthia Flowers and Seonjae Kim, additional panelists TBA

8:00 pm EST, Weltschmerz, and other Italian words I never reunderstood for the first time in 1920 under a Fascist regime 100 лет спустя

Directed and co-created by Dustin Wills, composed and co-created by Daniel Schlosberg

This is a Soviet montage of attractions con motivetti di Weltschmerz, Shadenfreude, Fernweh, Ohrwurm, Backpfeifengesicht, Schwarmerei, Vershlimmbessern, Sturmfrei, Wanderlust, Zugzwang, Kummerspeck, Torschlusspanik, Erklärungsnot, Innerer Schwienehund, Treppenwitz, Lebensmüde, Sitzfleisch, Sitzpinkler, Kuddelmuddel, and Kopfkino. Is it anterograde and retrograde amnesia? False awakenings? Déjà vu? Uroboros? Hè hè?

10:00 pm EST, hold

Created by Mei Ann Teo, composed by Orion S. Johnstone, with collaborators You-Shin Chen, Troy Anthony, and Matthias Neckermann

Thursday, Oct. 29

8:30 am EST, hold

Created by Mei Ann Teo, composed by Orion S. Johnstone, with collaborators You-Shin Chen, Troy Anthony, and Matthias Neckermann

5:30 pm EST, Upheavals in Language: Four Critics on the Words They Never Want to See Again

A panel featuring Soyica Diggs Colbert, Miriam Felton-Dansky, Brain Eugenio Herrera, and Diep Tran

7:00 pm EST, bb brecht

Performed by Miranda Haymon

After teaching tenure, writing books, and receiving consistent recognition for his federally subsidized art-making, bb brecht is finally satisfied....and has lost all inspiration. So he's becoming an Instagram influencer, where he hopes to rediscover desperation, exhaustion, suffering, and the many perils of modern life under corporate-driven capitalism. Los geht's!

8:00 pm EST, Good Byes

Music produced and vocals by Kelsey Pyro, film and direction by Kino Galbraith

An experimental music film about the journey of letting go to create space. The original music depicts the ending of personal friend, romantic, and familial relationships with Black men amongst the national loss of George Floyd. Shot in Brooklyn and Minneapolis, the imagery interprets the music's story and tone.

10:00 pm EST, hold

Created by Mei Ann Teo, composed by Orion S. Johnstone, with collaborators You-Shin Chen, Troy Anthony, and Matthias Neckermann

Friday, Oct. 30

8:30 am EST, hold

Created by Mei Ann Teo, composed by Orion S. Johnstone, with collaborators You-Shin Chen, Troy Anthony, and Matthias Neckermann

5:00 pm EST, Penny Thoughts

Co-created by Jeesun Choi and Bryn Herdrich

Money plays a huge role in our lives. We pin our hopes and dreams on the dollar and yet we are unwilling to talk about it. Let's end that taboo. A storytelling project/video collage, Penny Thoughts is a digital companion piece to BUST (Soho Rep's Writer/Director Lab).

5:30 pm EST, Animal Empire

Co-written by Justin Aaron Halle, co-written, composed, and directed by Yeujia Low

In this one-act digital musical, animals-sick of years of mistreatment and because a speeding sheriff accidentally kills a deer on a highway-take up arms against humans. Our pet cats claw us to death, our dogs deafen us with non-stop barking. The locusts destroy our crops, the sparrows spread diseases, the wild animals invade the cities... When the dust clears, will there be any humans left?

6:30 pm EST, body100

Garrett Allen + Nazareth Hassan

Tell me what you want me to do. I don't want to negotiate. I gave you the tools. Listen to my nothingness. Worship me, if you want. Just make sure you listen.

8:00 pm EST, Passing Time with Grace

By Le'Andra LeSeur

Passing time with Grace is an extended documented performance using video, sound, and a form of non-linear narrative to focus on the ways in which the body responds to trauma: in stillness, in reflection, and in unhinged movement.

9:00 pm EST, hold

Created by Mei Ann Teo, composed by Orion S. Johnstone, with collaborators You-Shin Chen, Troy Anthony, and Matthias Neckermann