imagin/ing: a devised performance project
A Wesleyan University senior Theater capstone in devised ensemble collaboration, directed by Alisha Simmons. Advised by Assistant Professor of Theater and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Katie Brewer Ball. Find the digital program here.
April 4th, 5th, 6th, 2024 at 7PM in Samuel Wadsworth Russell House (350 High Street, Middletown, CT)
imagin/ing is an immersive exploration into how experimental performance art can serve as a transformative tool on the journey towards QTBIPOC (Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, People of Color) liberation. Inspired by scholar Marquis Bey, the use of a slash in imagin/ing showcases the radical potential of imagination, a potential that can be unlocked through an ongoing, present process of performance.
This performance travels throughout different rooms and encourages audience participation.
This performance contains partial nudity.
Director: Alisha Simmons
Stage Manager: Nina Kibria
Run Crew: Elizabeth Laurence
Photographers: Jasmin Wong, Anika Kewalramani
Videographers: Loren Yuehan Wang, Erick Buendia
Sound Design: Negar Soleymanifa, Alisha Simmons
Production Assistant: Senica Slaton
Project Advisor: Katie Brewer Ball
Interim Production Manager/Costume Shop Manager: Robin Mazzola
CFA Technical Director/Master Electrician: Suzanne Sadler
CFA Assistant Technical Director: Tony Hernandez
Technical Associate: Joseph Fonesca
Theater Dept. Administrative Assistant: Dawn Alger
Performers:
Alisha Simmons
Xiran Tan
Xingyan Guo
Bre Jordan
Our Collective Poem
Having the power to dream
I feel free
In a way that’s less violent
To dance on the catastrophe
Being like a little kid again
Waited for school to start
I play with my imagination
We play because we imagine,
We play to imagine
Continuing anyways & otherwise & beyond
Consuming
Wistful intention to attack Imagine radical ways of knowing
I keep going, pushing back
Where it used to dominate me
When it’s hard for me
Gradually looking into the nuanced oppression in my life
Understanding
Someone is grounding
To live my life together with many
Taking care of each other
In this big, big, world
Those little moments of beauty
I know exactly what I have to get done
In a way that’s slightly shifted
Sometimes I forget it
Something settles
Having the power to dream
I feel free
In a way that’s less violent
To dance on the catastrophe
Being like a little kid again
Waited for school to start
I play with my imagination
We play because we imagine,
We play to imagine
Continuing anyways & otherwise & beyond
Consuming
Wistful intention to attack Imagine radical ways of knowing
I keep going, pushing back
Where it used to dominate me
When it’s hard for me
Gradually looking into the nuanced oppression in my life
Understanding
Someone is grounding
To live my life together with many
Taking care of each other
In this big, big, world
Those little moments of beauty
I know exactly what I have to get done
In a way that’s slightly shifted
Sometimes I forget it
Something settles