Feminist, queer & minority artists respond to fears of the incoming administration.
January 20 - February 18 at HERE
SANCTUARY, a home for feminist/queer/minority voices will take up residence at HERE beginning on Inauguration Day, Jan 20th as part of the Sublet Series. SANCTUARY is a pop-up venue for artists and activists to come together as a community and respond to current events, in particular the fears and anxieties felt in anticipation of the coming administration.
SANCTUARY opens on January 20th with an Inaugural Ball and continues with a full month of work by more than 50 different artists from a wide range of backgrounds. The schedule includes new theatre works; panel discussions with major arts leaders; and a variety of dance, concert, and other non-traditional works.
SANCTUARY will transform the mainstage at HERE into an immersive venue that draws on the history of activist/counter culture spaces. Audiences and artists alike will commiserate, process, grieve, organize, learn, and ultimately unite in celebration of the values we refuse to let America turn its back on.
The performance schedule for SANCTUARY is as follows:
January 20 at 8:30pm:
Inaugural Ball. A bevy or artists and performers come together to celebrate the end of an era and commiserate about the future.
January 21 at 4pm & 8:30pm and January 22 at 8:30pm:
Revolution by Black Revolutionary Theater Workshop
A direct response to the massacre at Mother Emanuel (AME) Church in South Carolina, REVOLUTION is a call to action for artists, activists and the average Joe to question and solidify their role in the quest for justice.
January 25 at 8:30pm:
Rubbertime by Zavé Martohardjono
Based on a phrase which Indonesians use to describe their sense of time -- malleable, stretchable, slow -- RUBBERTIME includes dance, spoken word, and video projection to juxtapose imagery of nature with those of the socialized human body, resistant or unfamiliar and re-adapting to nature.
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Radical by Sergio Castillo
RADICAL imagines a world where American Fascism has become the law of the land. In an abandoned warehouse somewhere in New York City, two left-wing activists debate on what is to be done: reform or revolt.
January 26 at 8:30pm:
The Persecution and Assassination of Hillary Rodham Clinton as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade by S.P. Monahan
The lunatics are running the asylum. After two hundred years in confinement, the Marquis de Sade revolts against the doctors and attendants at the asylum of Charenton. Having successfully overthrown the established order of the world, de Sade stages a “victory performance” inspired by the rise and fall of Hillary Rodham Clinton for his captive audience.
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In Theory: Notes on Home, Love, Diaspora, and Failing Adulthood by Cristin Gordon
A spoken word/dance fusion about converting the pain of our past into the resistance of our future. The piece seeks to provide relief for trauma, incite empathy, and center the marginalized within our own narratives of navigating a sociopolitical climate that was not built for us.
January 27- 29 at 8:30pm:
Next Faggot Nation by Scott Davis and Spencer Armstrong
Utilizes the groundbreaking novel Faggots, a variety of gay literature, and investigative interviews with gay men, artists, educators, and influential drag queens as a catalyst for examining the current gay landscape. It holds a mirror up to the younger generation of gay men to bring a call to action; the fight to acquire knowledge of the past in order to make future change is not over. Created by The Fossick Collective.
January 31 at 8:30pm:
Not in this Room by Daaimah Mubashshir
Abdullah, a faithful and devoted family man, comes home from his honeymoon and everything, absolutely everything has changed. Jamillah, who was disowned for being queer, has returned and Fatimah has changed. How can family still be family when the family has abandoned all that holds them together?
February 1:
Room 4 by Marina & Nicco
Four black actors realize they’re stuck in a time loop, auditioning for the same “Drug Dealer #2” role over and over. What once felt like a messed-up metaphor has become a literal existential nightmare. “Waiting for Godot” meets “A Chorus Line” meets “Groundhog Day” meets “the real-life experience of virtually every black actor in America.”
February 2 at 8:30pm:
Campfire Requiem by Rick Burkhardt
A set of songs, blending the personal and political, performed by a large group around a campfire. The songs range from older protest songs to brand new experiments in song narrative including topics such as Black Lives Matter, the founding of Hollywood in the early 1900's, the Unknown Soldier, the fate of queer activists in Dubai, and more.
February 3 & 5 at 8:30pm and February 4 at 8:30pm:
Red by Julián Mesri
RED is a play that dives deep into the conditions of unfreedom we find in our families and our romances. It utilizes outrageously vulgar language, raucous live songs, and over-the-top displays of spectacle, and violence unique to the productions of Julián Mesri and Sans Comedia.
February 5 at 4pm:
The Shooters of the American President by Matthew Paul Olmos
Following two men who are awaiting their next orders in an undisclosed location on November 22nd, 1963 - the day President Kennedy was assassinated - THE SHOOTERS OF THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT is an attempt to talk about how we view our presidents, how they are vilified or esteemed; and how close is nationalism to fanaticism.
February 7 at 8:30pm:
What We Needed: Now & Then by Kirya Traber
Developed as an Artist in Residence at Lincoln Center Education and the WIN family shelter, WHAT WE NEEDED is an evening of music that reflects the artist’s family's experience with homelessness and poverty through the blues and folk tradition.
February 8 at 8:30pm:
Harmony conceived & designed by Ran Xia in collaboration with Charlotte Arnoux
An audio documentary and sound sculpture enhanced with visual/movement elements, featuring the collective consciousness of voices around the globe. Harmony is set to be a living, growing, and evolving organ that would pick up whatever's happening in-the-moment.
February 9 at 8:30pm:
Hips Hands Tongue by Alicia Raquel
HIPS HANDS TONGUE is a story about embodiment, or coming into being, told through dance, interactive sensory world making, and oral storytelling.
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The Motherline Story Project by Eliza Simpson, Amanda A. Lederer, and Lauren Nordvig
A storytelling collective and an incubator for female expression. Featuring a nine woman cast, participants write and perform monologues in the first person voice of their mother, or her mother, or her mother’s mother...thus exploring their mother line.
February 10 & 11 at 8:30pm and February 12 at 4pm & 8:30pm:
Pussy Sludge by Gracie Gardner with Less Than Rent Theatre
Greenwich, Connecticut is a swamp. There's a radio station. An insurance office. And a woman menstruating crude oil. An exploration of shame, chance encounters, and the unkindness of doctors.
February 14 at 8:30pm:
Holding: A queer black love story by Alexandra Farr and Kimiko Matsuda-Lawrence
A meditation on queer black love in a time of terror. What does it mean to tell a black queer love story now? To find someone who sees you when the world refuses to safely recognize your existence, when your body is under attack, your rights are under siege, and everything and everyone you love and care for feels threatened?
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Monopoly: A Landlord’s Game by Megan Minturn
A dance piece inspired by the work and life of Lizzie Maggie, the little recognized creator of Monopoly. It honors her work while also looking abstractly at the injustices caused by our current "gameboard rules" -- for-profit prisons, poorly paid work, and women not recognized for work.
February 15 at 8:30pm:
Mouth/Piece by JD Stokely
Inspired by Grada Kilomba's book "Plantation Memories: Episodes of Everyday Racism," MOUTH/PIECE is an exploration of the Black feminine mouth as a site of trauma, heartbreak, and resistance.
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A History of Nasty Women by Alex Randrup
Two women are on a mission to protest the intangible, all encompassing grossness of the patriarchy. Traveling through dimensions of pop culture, history, mythology, and collective memory, they scour the vast landscape of womanhood, searching for untapped sources of feminine power.
February 17 at 8:30pm and Fenruary 18 at 4pm & at 8:30pm:
Jadele McPherson
A new work by this interdisciplinary artist wit a committed to Afro-Latin arts education, community building, and traditional arts as a healing response to trauma and division in multicultural communities.
SANCTUARY is presented and created by Adam Salberg and Jonathan Cottle in association with Less Than Rent Theatre. The presented works were selected by Azure D Osborne-Lee, Debra Morris, Jenna Grossano (LTR), and Adam Salberg. The venue is designed by Jonathan Cottle. The production manager is Hillary Luong. This production is a part of the Sublet Series@HERE, HERE's curated rental program, which provides artists with subsidized space and equipment, as well as technical support.
Tickets for most performances will be $20 and will be available for purchase online at here.org or 212-352-3101. Most curtain times will be at 8:30pm. HERE is located at 145 Sixth Avenue, enter on Dominick one block South of Spring Streeet.