Performance Collective i am a slow tide Debuts with BRIEF CHRONICLE, BOOKS 6-8

i am a slow tide, a new performance and media collective founded by Augustus Heagerty, is set to debut with the New York premiere of Brief Chronicle, Books 6-8 by Alex Borinsky. Directed by Heagerty and presented in association with Access Theater, Brief Chronicle, Books 6-8 is a queer ghost story about constructing identities out of the places, people, and objects we wish we could possess. Brief Chronicle, Books 6-8 will begin previews at Access Theater (380 Broadway) on May 23 and officially open on June 2, playing a limited engagement through June 14. Tickets are now on sale and available at iamaslowtide.com.

Brief Chronicle, Books 6-8 is a quiet, heartbreaking new play that grounds epic themes-unabated longing, violence and imperialism, and the bond between mother and son-in the small ways we hurt and love one another. In the play, Julian lives with his mother in Baltimore. They are visited by a ghost who has committed a human atrocity. Julian and the ghost become friends. Everyone takes a vacation together.

In 2017, the Clubbed Thumb premiere of Alex Borinsky's Of Government was dubbed one of the 10 Best Theatrical Productions of 2017 by Sara Holdren in New York Magazine. She found the play "soulful, searching," writing that "Borinsky created a kind of civic pageant - a meditation on how we take care of ourselves as individuals and as societies - out of tinsel and craft paper. Borinsky found the political, and the powerful, in the personal." Helen Shaw in her 5 Star Time Out New York Critic's Pick review called Of Government "a comic masterpiece," noting "if ever a political play were huggable, this would be it." In his New York Times Critic's Pick review, Ben Brantley found "what is surely the most likably idiosyncratic assortment of women gathered on a New York stage."

Borinsky's mentor, the Obie-award winning playwright Mac Wellman said, "Brief Chronicle, Books 6-8 is a remarkable creature of our shattered and shuttered time. Borinsky's theater examines everything that it encounters-including the various artifices of theater itself, i.e. character, costumes, boxes, supposed emotions (real or imagined), action as it would have its way, place/s, and all the supposed ends and means of the theater making apparatus-with a scrupulous but loving attentiveness. There is no one quite like [her] writing and making theater today."

"i am a slow tide is a new performance and media company aiming to make experiences that rattle and expand our conception of being alive," said founder Augustus Heagerty. "I'm excited to bring Alex's meditative narrative to New York audiences. Brief Chronicle, Books 6-8 is a fragment of a larger history of trauma. The trauma we inflict on ourselves, others and the environment coupled with the painful desire to revisit that trauma in order try to change the outcome."

The cast for Brief Chronicle, Books 6-8 includes Janice Amaya (Pipeline Theatre Company, The Hummm), Lindsay Head (NERVOUS/SYSTEM, BAM; Faye Driscoll) , Jacob Perkins (Breeders, The Few) Nicole Spiezio (Netflix's The Characters, Pipeline Theatre Company), and Susanna Stahlmann (Sound House / New Georges, Twelfth Night / TFANA).

The creative team includes Sam Max (scenic design), Bax Pitt (lighting design) Ivy Karlsgodt (costumes) Peter Mills Weiss (sound), Jesse Kovarsky (choreographer), Lindsay Head (associate choreographer), Emma Hogan (production stage manager), Emma Orme (lead producer), and Maya Maniar (associate producer).

15 performances of Brief Chronicle, Books 6-8 will take place May 23-June 15 at Access Theater, 380 Broadway in Manhattan. Critics are welcome as of May 30 for an opening on Sunday, June 2. Tickets are priced $25 general, $32 reserved and available at iamaslowtide.com. Call 212.966.1047 for more information on Access Theater.

Alex Borinsky [She/Her] is a playwright and performer, originally from Baltimore. Recent projects include Ding Dong It's the Ocean (Rady&Bloom), Weird Classrooms (University Settlement), and Of Government (Clubbed Thumb). An alum of Mac Wellman and Erin Courtney's playwriting program at Brooklyn College, her plays have been produced and developed by Playwrights Horizons, Target Margin, Page 73, Ensemble Studio Theatre, SPACE at Ryder Farm, Masrah Ensemble in Beirut, Upstream Theater in St. Louis, and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Borinsky was a member of Youngblood from 2010 to 2016. She lives in Los Angeles, is finishing a YA novel, and recently completed a certificate course in permaculture design. She has made work in basements, backyards, bars, circus tents, and theaters.

Augustus Heagerty [He/Him] is a director and performer originally from the Bay Area. He has directed and created new works with the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, The New Ohio Theater, and Judson Memorial Church. He is the founder and director of i am a slow tide, a performance and media collection established in 2018. He is an alum of the North Carolina School of the Arts.

i am a slow tide is a performance and media collection that expands our conception of being alive. Using performance and video, i am a slow tide activates alternative pathways for consideration. In name and in action, i am a slow tide is a wry reflection of identity in the modern world. i am a slow tide is based in brooklyn and lead by director Augustus Heagerty.

Photo Credit: Jordan Geiger