Jessie Young with Iris McCloughan

This work lives in the space between us, Iris and me and inevitably ours. A thread, a tissue - word to movement to after image. What are we seeing when we see each other? And how does that seeing become a choreography? For now, a lighthouse as a guiding abstraction to clarity.

Phil Soltanoff and Steven Wendt (The Institute of Useless Activity)

The Chocolate Factory Theater is thrilled to partner with The Bushwick Starr to present The Institute of Useless Activity’s THIS AND THAT, co-created by international theater director Phil Soltanoff (2020 Herb Alpert Award recipient) and performer/puppeteer Steven Wendt (Blue Man Group). What is THIS? What is THAT? — THAT imagines the creation of the universe, THIS is about the people in it – their romantic sense of longing, loss, alienation and near miss… a cowboy sleeps under the stars, a family puts their child to sleep for the night, a crooner serenades his lover, a jazz pianist fantasizes while he plays. The vignettes morph from one scene to another— hand shadows inspired by the sculptures of Henry Moore dissolve into each scene.

Efraín Rozas

An Ocean of Forgiveness is a new composition for live solo percussion composed and performed by Efraín Rozas (who most recently appeared at The Chocolate Factory with luciana achugar), which slowly conjures an intense polyrhythmic trance, using complex percussive patterns and the resonance of the architecture. Rozas will be joined by light artist Kazue Taguchi (Japan/NY) who will manipulate a light sculpture in real time during the show.

David Thomson

VESSEL continues David Thomson’s research into the perception of identity, and the ways in which presence and absence operate within the human experience. Within an intricate physical installation (aka the “vessel” of the title), Thomson and his collaborating performers - Martita Abril, Jaguar Mary X, Katrina Reid, Katie Workum and Nehemoyia Young - embody a physical practice developed specifically for the project, navigating pathways of transformation and altered states.

Andrea Kleine

In December 2020, Andrea Kleine and Bobby Previte moved into The Chocolate Factory Theater and lived alone in the Covid-shuttered New York City venue for two weeks. They arrived with an air mattress, a toaster oven, a cooler of frozen Trader Joe’s meals, and an inflatable kiddie pool to bathe in. Every night they performed on stage for no one.

Dion TYGAPAW McKenzie

Dion TYGAPAW McKenzie presents their second work in progress presentation of Devil Woman (Obeah Woman), an opera in three parts—and their second commissioned project as a 2022 ISSUE Artist-In-Residence. Using Techno as their main genre of focus, the work urges us to renegotiate and expand our understanding of the genre.

Martita Abril

Huevos a la Mexcla digs at the raw feelings and distortions generated by the arbitrary and intersecting physical and conceptual boundaries of race, culture, and laws - and attempts to conjure an objective sense of community and togetherness within those divisions.

Dion TYGAPAW McKenzie

Dion TYGAPAW McKenzie presents the premiere presentation of Devil Woman (Obeah Woman), an opera in three parts—and their second commissioned project as a 2022 ISSUE Artist-In-Residence. Using Techno as their main genre of focus, the work urges us to renegotiate and expand our understanding of the genre.

Ivy Baldwin

Made specifically for the Chocolate Factory Theater’s new space, Folds revels in four dancers’ vulnerable, molting, and triumphant bodies; their operatic and primal voices; and the real-time morphing and mending of a large visual art installation made in collaboration with Ukrainian visual artist Inna Babaeva.

Leslie Cuyjet

“I know this story. It’s a story I’ve loved again and again. All I know is my body moving through time. Reminding myself that I have blood pumping through me, and that has to be enough. I walk and walk to keep from standing still. I think of my pelvis sloshing around in a tangle of muscle and tendon. So tight and bound, perhaps a sprinkle of arthritis. But if I keep walking I feel that I can. And if I can, then at least I will keep moving.”
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