Lilith

“Our bodies are occupied territories. Perhaps the ultimate goal of performance, especially if you are a woman, gay, or a person ‘of color’ is to decolonize our bodies and make these decolonizing mechanisms apparent to our audience in the hope that they will get inspired to do the same with their own.”- Guillermo Gómez-Peña

About the Commissions:

Joanne Metcalf — “The Darkening of the Light”: explores issues of agency and control, grappling with illness and the struggle to overcome

JP Merz — “the be able to be not”: explores issues of feminine representation and objectification in classical vocal performance through subversive text and a variety of musical “coding” (breaking out of bel-canto/beauty expectations)

Brad Wells — “There are days like this”: premised on empathy towards women burdened by patriarchal oppression, with particular regard towards body-image and self-esteem issues relating to eating disorders

Shara Nova — “All Mine”: a powerful declamation of agency and a loving assertion of the female body