Catch Hot New Work from the PCC Artistic Leaders this Summer
Our Artistic Leadership Team is leaning into the importance of our collective collaborations and the reach of our intertwined creative communities, inside and outside of PCC. With PCC as an ongoing artistic home and anchor, this summer ALT members are making new theater, movement, and multimedia projects in partnership with artists and organizations across NYC and beyond. Read on and join us for an exciting breadth of upcoming projects and generative modalities from the creative minds of the ALT.
Artistic Leader Mei Ann Teo is directing the new musical PRESENCIA at The Bushwick Starr this June, produced in association with ¡Oye! Group and The Sol Project, with support from Musical Theatre Factory, Oye! Group and The Sol Project. With Book, Music & Lyrics by Michelle J. “Micha” Rodriguez, Choreography by William Carlos Angulo and U.J. Mangune, and featuring PCC performer and Teaching Artist Manny Dunn (he/him), Michelle J. “Micha” Rodriguez (she/her), Sushma Saha (all pronouns), and Tieisha Thomas (she/her).
Expect miracles, magic, divine feminine energy, and the healing power of presence and intuition in this joyous new millennial music theater piece. Reshaping the Moses story for women of color grappling with the hazards and challenges of leadership, PRESENCIA is told with Bible-fan-fiction vibes, varying degrees of reverence and satire, and a vibrant anthemic musical score rooted in jazz/R&B.
PRESENCIA runs June 11-29 at the Connelly Theater.
Talvin Wilks’ multimedia project Snakehips in our DNA is viewable at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival from July 31-August 3
Conceived by PCC Artistic Leader team member Talvin Wilks in collaboration with new media artist LaJuné McMillian, Snakehips in our DNA is a free, open-gallery experience where visitors can explore the trajectory of dance from the Harlem Renaissance to the present through a stunning video installation of multi-generational and interdisciplinary artists. Snakehips In Our DNA utilizes new media technology such as motion capture animation, and features interview footage of dancers including Mickey Davidson, Drew Dollaz, Bernard Dove, Roobi Gaskins, Rocka Jamez, Chanon Judson, Michela Marino Lerman, and Maleek Washington, as they respond to the soul and spirit of the legendary Harlem Renaissance-era dancer, Earl ‘Snakehips’ Tucker. This is a tribute and timely meditation on the Harlem Renaissance’s permanence in today’s contemporary culture, coming to Jacob’s Pillow this summer following a two-week appearance in the Apollo’s Victoria Theater in April 2024.
Save the Date: Nile Harris’ minor b as part of The Shed’s OPEN CALL in August
minor b is a performance that inquires about a minor black behavior that refuses capitalization. PCC Artistic Leader Nile Harris and his ensemble use the biography of jazz cornetist Buddy Bolden, who was making music at the turn of the 20th century and spent the majority of his life in a mental asylum, as a theoretical launching point to stage a series of discreet events rejecting and subverting the syntax of the black box theater as a means to examine the orthography of blackness. For Harris, the black box theater serves as a metaphor for containment. Playing with theatrical traditions which have sought an imposed neutrality, the work is, in part, a response to institutional constraints that resonate with the asylum where Bolden was confined.
minor b is created by Nile Harris and presented in association with Ping Chong and Company. The piece is commissioned by The Shed and presented in association with Ping Chong and Company. Development was made possible by Center for Performance Research, The Church in Sag Harbor, and 99 Canal.