minor b

minor b

minor b is a performance that inquires about a minor black behavior that refuses capitalization. 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.

Work-in-Progress Presentation at The Shed’s Open Call: AUG 9 & 10, 2024

Creative Team:

Co-Director: Dyer Rhoads

Sound Designer: Kwami Winfield

Set Designer: Marie De Testa
Dramaturg: Tony Jenkins

Cast: Jim Fletcher, Ley Gambucci, Nile Harris, Jonah Rollins

minor b 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.