Real People, Real Lives, Real Theater: Celebrating 30 Years of Ping Chong and Company’s Undesirable Elements Symposium
PCC and The New School’s Eugene Lang College and College of Performing Arts announce a two-day symposium on February 3 and 4, 2023, celebrating the 30-year history of the company’s groundbreaking interview-based, community engaged, theater series Undesirable Elements.
The celebration brings Undesirable Elements cast members, presenters, creative collaborators, producing partners and colleagues in the field of documentary theater to the university to lead courses, panels, and student workshops, culminating with an evening performance from a new work in progress, Undesirable Elements: Ukraine.
Undesirable Elements is a series of interview-based theater productions by PCC that features local community members telling their own stories of place, identity, and belonging. Since 1992, over 65 Undesirable Elements productions have been made in communities across the country and around the world, exploring issues such as the experience of immigrants and refugees in the U.S., the experience of living with disability, Muslim American identity, and the experiences of survivors of sexual violence. Recent productions have looked at living with chronic illness and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on youth of color in New York City.
All events are free and open to the public.