ORIGAMI NIGHT: A Choreo-Poem Will Come to Target Margin Theater in April

ORIGAMI NIGHT is coming to Brooklyn's Target Margin Theater. This multidisciplinary show, combining dance, multimedia, and the poetry of Pamela Annas, will have its New York premiere on Thursday, April 9 and a limited run through Sunday, April 12. Tickets ($15 with code ORIGAMI; $50 full price) can be purchased online. 

Origami Night is a multidisciplinary journey through a woman's life, from working-class Navy brat to radical feminist to mother. Conceived as a choreo-poem, the show explores aging, love, loneliness, and the revolutionary act of self-examination. At its core lies the poetry of Pamela Annas, a Boston-based writer and educator known for her role in formalizing the pedagogy of working-class literature in the United States. Co-created by the poet's son Christopher Annas-Lee and Oregon-based choreographer Graham Cole, the show will be performed by Elenaluisa Alvarez and features lighting, sound, and scenic design by Christopher Annas-Lee, costume design by Virginia Belt, and narration by Luz Nicolás.

The production will continue to tour nationwide later this year, with performances in Washington, DC and Chicago in fall 2026 and Portland, OR and San Francisco in spring 2027.

When asked about working with his mother's writings, Christopher Annas-Lee explains: “Every family is wild, if you dig down just a little. Mine is no exception. But the families you hear about are those that happen to produce a storyteller, and that's my mother. As an imagist and surrealist poet, she takes the clay of growing up on Navy bases across the world, of discovering her queerness in secret, of aging into motherhood, and molded it into these frescoes of how life was and how life is. As a kid, I would read them and briefly see through her eyes. As an adult, I'm a designer for theater and dance, and this is how I tell stories. It only made sense to adapt her words into the way I know best, to share our wild family with yours."

Origami Night will be presented as a double bill with Tabula Rasa Dance Theater's EROTOMANIA, choreographed and directed by artistic director Felipe Escalante. Known for his deep engagement with social justice issues of our time, Escalante has collaborated with Annas-Lee on five previous productions, including the critically acclaimed 2023 Oedipus Rex at New York Live Arts.