LIVE CULTURES 015
No parents, no rules for summer theater!
June has been a month of momentum. I had the pleasure of returning to The Vineyard Theater for a second Juneteenth field trip to BOWL EP, and also found a moment to sit down with the play’s writer and director Nazareth Hassan to go deeper on their creative process and subsequent lessons in love. If you haven’t already, check out the SUPPLEMENTS interview (linked below).
SUPPLEMENTS: Nazareth Hassan
Playwright feels like too small a word for Nazareth Hassan. My first encounter with their work was BOWL EP, and it was like nothing I’d ever seen. Unconstrained by convention, Hassan’s prismatic practice fuses music, performance, image making and text to remember and imagine; to interrogate and excavate. Recently named a
LIVE CULTURES JULY RECOMMENDATIONS
I particularly enjoy summer performances because artists get to create without constraints of traditional theatrical conventions (most of which are on summer vacation). Naturally, July’s recommendations are sure to offer something refreshing in the midst of the summer heart.
The Body Remembers Lights @ Center for Performance Research
July 5th
If you’re looking for a moment of instrospection, The Body Remembers Lights by Japenese-born choreographer, Mamiko Usuda is the show for you. Performed by an ensemble of four dancers, The Body Remembers Lights reflects on how the body holds what the mind forgets, inviting the audience into a shared space of reflection, vulnerability, and connection.
99 Names: My Liberation Is Tied To Yours @ The Shed
July 11th
Open Call summer exhibitions return to The Shed, featuring 12 early career artists. This year’s theme ‘Portals’ navigates personal stories and ancestral global history to open portals for passage, transformation, and resistance. Of note, Sudanese American writer, producer and visual artist, Marwa Eltahir presents 99 Names: My Liberation Is Tied to Yours. Her work fuses sound, image, and ritual together in an audiovisual performance that asks us to grieve, remember, and imagine. Collective transformation awaits.
Tickets to Open Call are FREE with RSVP. 99 Names: My Liberation Is Tied to Yours will also be performed again on Aug 8th
BOFFO Festival: Dystopian Ecstasy @ Fire Island Pines
July 12th
For those looking to be OUTSIDE (in every sense), pulsating with high energy and high BPM, I have two exciting recommendations for you. The first being BOFFO Festival, a hot weekend of music, performance, and dance. The 2025 BOFFO Performance Festival Fire Island, titled Dystopian Ecstasy, presents an inverted, uncanny world where performances act as portals to multiple realities, blurring the line between what is real and what is a distorted reflection. Join for the Day Festival on the beach and stay up late for the Night Festival that goes until sunrise.
Play Me Techno And Tell Me I’m Pretty @ Secret Location (TBA)
July 12th
If you don’t fancy the ferry ride out to Fire Island, Play Me Techno And Tell Me I’m Pretty Vol. V has got your covered at a secret location in Brooklyn (RSVP for details). Bringing you a (fourteen hour) evening of experimental performance and bodily autonomy; this rave garners a sonically charged experience for catharsis, sweat, and connectivity. Through techno, experimentation, and liberation of the body, you’re invited onto the dance floor to experience yourself. Come hungry for a desire to move your body.
The Gospel of Colonus @ Little Island NYC
July 8th - July 26th
Take me to CHURCH. The Gospel of Colonus is an African American gospel retelling of Sophocles’ Oedipus. A man condemned from birth searches for grace. A choir lifts him up. The congregation – the audience – bears witness to his tale. But here, tragedy is not an ending – it’s the road to deliverance. Amongst the production credits is Pulitzer Prize finalist and director, Shayok Misha Chowdhury whose play Prince F*gg*t is enjoying a SOLD OUT extended run at Playwrights Horizons—trust that this musical is in fantastic hands.
The Woods @ Pioneers Works
July 31 & Aug 1
The Woods is composer, Ellis Ludwig-Leone (San Fermin,) and choreographer and director, Troy Schumacher’s newest and perhaps most ambitious collaboration yet: exploding the rich musical universe of San Fermin’s catalogue across an enveloping set designed by Jason Ardizzone-West (Redwood, The Weeknd, Dua Lipa) with costumed designed by CFDA Award-winning Elena Velez. Conjuring a mythic dreamscape where fantasy and reality blur, the woods become a gathering place for searching souls awaiting a chance for change. Held together by this fragile connection, everyone who enters sees their own desires and fears written across the enchanted space, and as the sun sets, they are drawn deeper into a magical and sometimes perilous world.
FIELD TRIP 008: NEW PLAN
I know I said, we’d plan for a July field trip, but honestly I’m tired and need a little summer break. So instead, join me on Saturday, August 23rd (save the date) for a Live Cultures beach day, followed by a sunset performance from Kate Brandt for Beach Sessions 2025. RSVP to follow in August.
See you there and in the meantime stay cultured x