Harlem Stage Announces Cohort for 2022 WaterWorks Emerging Artists Program

Harlem Stage today announced its cohort for the 2022 WaterWorks Emerging Artists program. The five multidisciplinary artists of color will participate in a year-long experience - with Harlem Stage as their creative home - to develop new works; receive guidance from mentors; collaborate with other Harlem Stage artists; have access to rehearsal space; receive administrative and other essential career support; participate in workshops and professional development sessions; and finally, present a culminating showcase at the Harlem Stage Gatehouse in December 2022. WaterWorks, Harlem Stage's signature commissioning program, was created to identify, cultivate, and nurture the talents of visionary artists of color.

The 2022 WaterWorks Emerging Artists are:

• Tariq Al-Sabir

• Jennifer Cendan?a Armas

• Shenny De Los Angeles

• Vinson Fraley

• Edisa Weeks

Composer, vocalist, music director, and producer, Tariq Al-Sabir has been selected to work on a three-vignette opera, each featuring its own story and set of characters. The vignettes will feature fictional stories that center on Black individuals and their unique relationship to technology.

Performer, writer, and activist from NYC, Jennifer Cendaña Armas has been selected to explore and create a new music/theater project, Story of a Romance. Inspired by vinyl singles and maxi cassettes, Cendaña Armas theatrically chronicles different versions of the same romantic relationship. She will compose, develop, and shape the music and story for this work, which explores the intersections of race, gender, citizenship, and class and how larger societal issues impact the most intimate relationships.

Dominican-American interdisciplinary performance artist, Shenny De Los Angeles, will explore, study, and present her new work, Sisters by Water. The project is a captivating story that delves into the friendship between Dominican-American and Haitian-American femmes through multimedia, storytelling integrated with spoken word, and ritual spiritual practice into art.

Artist, dancer and choreographer Vinson Fraley has been selected to explore a new work in dance and movement entitled, I Got Time Today. The work is a deep study of movement and expression of the inner tensions that lie between what is perceived and said, bringing the act of remembrance into ritual and healing practices.

NYC-based choreographer, educator and curator Edisa Weeks has been selected to further explore her new work, 3 RITES: Liberty. Weeks will continue researching, writing, and developing the character and presentation of "Liberty," a compelling display of seven key objects that symbolize and inform the Black/African experience in America. Weeks will work in collaboration with producer Marýa Wethers on her project.

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