Jan. 18-19, 8:00-10:00 p.m., in the BDT
“On Contentious Grounds” combines theater, dance, story-telling, slam poetry, and other genres. We are seeking actors, contemporary and hip hop dancers, and performers of all kinds. The audition will be run as a workshop. There are parts that are only speaking parts or only dancing parts, but students should expect to participate in the entire audition workshop. There is no need to prepare anything. If you have writing you’ve already done about your personal relation to oppression and resistance, you are welcome to bring it. Please plan to participate the entire time. For further information about the workshop audition or the production, contact the director, Daniel Bear Davis, at dbdavis@smcm.edu.
“On Contentious Grounds” will be an original interdisciplinary performance created in collaboration with the student ensemble in response to interviews with Palestinian occupants of the West Bank about their daily lives and ancestral histories. The ensemble will wrestle with these seemingly distant and complex political realities to find the intersectional connections with experiences of oppression and resistance in their own lives. Material has already been developed in relation to civil rights issues, incarceration, and sexual assault. This intimate and timely political content will be balanced with high dynamic dancing, circus arts, and humor.