The Performance Project began in 2000 as a theater and movement workshop in the Hampshire Jail, a collaboration between two artists and eight men incarcerated at the jail. We converted the jail visiting room into a black box theater with lights and audience risers, staging full-length devised physical theater performances attended by 800+ people and reviewed by theater critics in local papers. In 2005 we formed an “outside company” with members who were formerly incarcerated collaborating with other community artists.
Between 2000 & 2007 we devised and performed seven original physical theater works sounding the alarm on the criminal justice system’s roots in capitalism, racism, and slavery. The life experiences shared in performances highlighted how economic and racial oppression have laid the foundation for – and continue to sustain – high rates of police brutality, incarceration, and recidivism in BIPOC communities nationwide. We also offered residencies in women’s and juvenile facilities.
In 2008, we launched First Generation for BIPOC, immigrant, and refugee young adults ages 15-23 who identify as first generation in some way; they may be first in their families to grow up in the US, to speak English, graduate high school, go to college, be incarcerated, be openly LGBTQ+, be an activist, be a feminist, break a silence, or any other first. Ensemble members train with professional writers, dancers, and theater artists, and tour professional-level devised multilingual physical theater inspired by their life experiences and those of their families and communities that highlight local and global justice issues.
Performances incorporate theater, movement, dance, storytelling, poetry, and vocal landscapes and have included Haitian-Creole, Kirundi, French, Amharic, Spanish, Nepali, Arabic, Swahili, Luganda. “Mother Tongue, our current show, is a 90-minute performance exploring the intersecting themes of diaspora, language, culture, identity, xenophobia, transphobia, hypermasculinity, racism, misogyny, mass incarceration, liberation, and revolution. It has been touring theaters, colleges, community spaces, schools, festivals, and social justice conferences for two years.
In addition to performances, we offer workshops for adults and youth on The Themes of “Mother Tongue”; Devised Physical theater; Community Building, Social Justice, & the Arts; Amplifying Youth Voice; Masculinity/Hypermasculinity; Raising Healthy Boys; and more. Contact us for details.
