Connecticut College Will Present Preview Of Stefanie Batten Bland’s MAKE GRANNY GREAT AGAIN

The Connecticut College Dance Department and the Ammerman Center for Arts and Technology will present preview performances of Make Granny Great Again (MGGA), a Coup d’Espace Experience, a new immersive work by director and choreographer Stefanie Batten Bland.

The previews will take place January 22 and 23 at 6:00 p.m. and January 24 at 2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. at the Ammerman Center for Arts and Technology in New London, Connecticut.

Bland has been in a long-term residency at Connecticut College developing the project, which brings together professional artists and Connecticut College dance students in an immersive performance environment. The work draws inspiration from intergenerational knowledge passed down by “grannies” and explores advocacy, resistance, and collective memory through proximity-based performance.

About the Work

MGGA: a Coup d’Espace Experience places performance in shared spaces and engages audiences through immersive design. The project honors the legacy of Ellen Stewart, founder of La Mama Experimental Theatre Club, and reflects Stewart’s commitment to artistic risk-taking and experimentation. The work looks to ancestral guidance while addressing contemporary social realities, focusing on open discourse and the safeguarding of cultural memory.

“I am passionate about spaces and places that resonate with me; it's the loft kid in me,” said Bland. “Immersive experiences are deeply rooted in mixed realities. What my parents' generation began in the 1960s and '70s is now evolving into the next level of artistic expression, placing intention at the heart of the experience.”

“Coup, with its labyrinthine design within homes, acknowledges that while we share the same spaces in real life, we do not all feel the same way in them,” she continued. “We, the people—and I, an African American woman—are more complex and multidimensional than a single definition. Therefore, my response to existing inside of dictatorship is to urgently create works that center on action, care, and conversation through visceral theatre-making. Cultural economy generates free thinking. I hope to make Coups all across the country.”

Performers and Creative Team

The preview performances will feature immersive artists Vernice Miller, Quaba Ernest, Lenin Fernandez, and Jennifer Payán, alongside nine Connecticut College dance students. Design is by Ashley Setzler in collaboration with Connecticut College students.

Additional Information

Admission to the preview performances is free, with reservations required. Performances will take place at the Ammerman Center for Arts and Technology, located at 768 Williams Street in New London.

Make Granny Great Again (MGGA), a Coup d’Espace Experience will receive its world premiere at La Mama Experimental Theatre Club in April 2027. The project has received support from the National Dance Project, Creative Capital, and the New York State Council on the Arts.