HERE Arts Center Reveals Cast and Design Team For Eisa Davis' THE ESSENTIALISN'T

HERE Arts Center have announced the full cast and design team for their World Premiere of The Essentialisn't, a new performance art piece created by Obie Award-winner Eisa Davis (Passing Strange; Warriors with Lin-Manuel Miranda; Angela's Mixtape), September 10-28 in the Mainstage Theatre at HERE Arts Center (145 6th Ave, New York, NY 10013).

Can you be Black and not perform? Incorporating art gallery aesthetics with an electronic soul score, THE ESSENTIALISN'T is a performance about performance, exploring the cultural techniques that make musical expression a kind of imprisonment-or a transcendent liberation.

In this rebellious piece driven by original, pulsing music, Eisa Davis troubles the obligations that a Black woman's body has to perform, rejecting the philosophy of essentialism-the idea that people can be categorized by an unchanging essence or set of qualities they inherently possess. Davis creates porous, evocative imagery through the use of striking set elements, such as transforming the space into a white box and singing in a tank of water. Drawing on diasporic traditions that form a continuum between the past and the present, The Essentialisn't challenges audiences to destabilize their own unconscious ways of perceiving themselves and others.

The cast will feature Eisa Davis (Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Performance, Passing Strange), Jamella Cross (Bulrusher at McCarter Theater/Berkeley Rep), and Princess Jacob (The Christians at Baltimore Center Stage; Home Is Where the Fund Is with Elevate Theatre Company), with Anire Kim Amoda (Graciela on The Penguin with HBO).

The creative team includes Creator, Performer and Director Eisa Davis, Soundscape Artist & Sound Designer Rucyl Mills (Anatomy of a Suicide with Atlantic Theater Company), Live Sound Mix & Sound Design by Christopher Payne (head producer and audio engineer for Nearpod and Flocabulary), Lighting Design by Cha See (Oh Mary! on Broadway; Obie Award for Wet Brain), Video Design by Skye Mahaffie (Last Summer of Nathan Lee), Scenic & Costume Consultation by Peter Born (let slip, hold sway at the Whitney Museum of American Art), and Movement Consultant Okwui Okpokwasili (Bessie Award-winning Bronx Gothic), with Production Stage Manager Alexus Jade Coney (Radio Downtown with The Civilians), Production Manager Jack Daniel Woods, and Associate Director Anire Amoda. HERE is thrilled to welcome The Movement Theatre Company as associate producers on this piece. As two organizations committed to shared leadership and uplifting experimental work by artists, this collaboration is an opportunity to bring together the uptown and downtown theater communities.

On Saturday, September 20th from 1pm-8:30pm HERE will be throwing open their doors for a Season Kickoff Celebration! The event will include a listening party featuring music from HERE's upcoming season, special sneak peeks of upcoming projects, flash tattoos, light bites by some of our favorite culinary artists, curated wine tastings, behind-the-scenes tours, and more! Admission is FREE with RSVP at https://here.org/shows/25-26-season-kickoff-celebration/.