Richi Wa Utat / Richard III: Bold Theatre KE brings education & opportunities to artists from marginalized East African communities while amplifying Kenyan identity. Taking Shakespeare’s Richard III & re-imagining the work using Sheng- the most widely used Swahili patois in Nairobi- this experimental project culminated in performances of Richi Wa Utat in the ghettos of Nairobi. Infused with East African drum, Kenyan hip hop, and Nairobi fashion- the project interrogates the inequalities of modern Kenya and exposes the hypocrisy of peace achieved through violence.
Led by Adam Parker (US) & Aroji Otieno (Kenya)
&
Prehistoric Body Theater: The Biological Tree of Life unites all living beings, past and present, within a vast story of shared prehistoric inheritance. From their jungle “Nest” studio in Central Java, Indonesia, Prehistoric Body Theater creates portals where scientific evidence ends and mystery begins—summoning dinosaurs, early humans, and other prehistoric entities through deep-time animal movement and clay-textured stagecraft. Their paleoart performances fuse Indonesian traditional and folk dance and music, butoh theater, and are created in collaboration with leading scientists.
Wildlife populations are declining worldwide due to human impacts. Scientists working in behavior, biology, ecology, veterinarian medicine & conservation discuss their work. In an effort to open scientific approaches to a broader public while activating perspectives from the arts, the panel discusses initiatives that expand the idea of a laboratory and invites us to consider ways to address the ongoing loss of species.
Led by Dr. Rob Gegear (U.Mass/Dartmouth) & Dr. Lucy Spelman (Creature Conserve & RISD) in conversation with Maeve Donohue (RDWray Farm Trust)
Creating to Connect Us: A Generative Art-Science Workshop
This is a generative workshop for people interested in creating work in all media about what it means to share our six basic needs – air, food, water, shelter, room to move, & each other – with the more-than-human creatures who live alongside us on our streets, in our backyards, parks, shorelines, rivers, oceans, & skies. Through process-oriented presentation, guided exercises, & open discussion, we’ll weave scientific information into the creative process. Participants are invited to bring sketching/writing materials as well as empathy and imagination.
Led by Dr. Lucy Spelman, Susan Tacent, & Deanne Fernandes
Creature Needs: Writers Respond to the Science of Animal Conservation
This is a How-to Discussion & Book Reading for folks interested in the health of all species (including humans!) Creature Needs, published by the University of Minnesota Press in 2025, is a path-setting fusion of literary art & scientific research that deepens our understanding of the interdependence between life & habitat. We’ll trace the book’s journey from an idea sparked by Creature Conserve, a Rhode Island based creative community bringing together artists, designers, writers, & experts with scientific & traditional knowledge in a supportive, welcoming space, to a collection of work by 39 writers & poets whose response to the science illuminates the stark choices we all face to conserve resources & ensure that the needs of all species are met.
With Dr. Lucy Spelman, Susan Tacent, Eléna Rivera & Jodie Noel Vinson
3 Staged Readings of New Shorts by Erik Ehn: All Nouns End As Verbs One Day; Radif; & Zombie vs. Godzilla.
Led byRia T. DiLullo Featuring original music by Ben Freeman
Performed by Jesse Castellanos, Edgar Eguia, Kathy Guerrero, Haneen Arafat Murphy, John Racioppo, Patrick Robinson, Dan Scarantino, Gael Schaefer, Isabella Jane Schiller, Sam Streich, Anuj Parikh, & Ashley Kristeen Vega
Studies Project: Borderless Artist Long Table on Censorship
Short presentations by advocates working to mitigate censorship in the arts. A long table discussion will offer space for artists to share experiences with censorship & enable community members to trade tools & tactics to continue making art amidst censorship. The Long Table is a style of conversation developed by NYC queer feminist performance artists Lois Weaver & Peggy Shaw.
Performed by Jesse Castellanos, Edgar Eguia, Kathy Guerrero, Haneen Arafat Murphy, John Racioppo, Patrick Robinson, Dan Scarantino, Gael Schaefer, Isabella Jane Schiller, Sam Streich, Anuj Parikh, & Ashley Kristeen Vega
Spirit and Art – compassion & responsibility in the creative life. How do artistic and spiritual languages and missions overlap? A conversation among practitioners, live & online, with q/a. Spirit is a felt-physics… a sense of how the universe functions, felt so intimately that expression eludes description, & asks for being-in-action. Art is one way of being-in-action. It is the way some of us bear forward experiences of spirit – not by translating, but by inciting more experience.
Hosted by Erik Ehn. Participants: Murielle Borst-Tarrant, Safe Harbors (NYC); Sheldon Blackhorse, Playwright, actor (New Mexico); Cynthia Cohen, Artist, Peacebuilder (North Carolina); Kim Gleason, Performer, producer (New Mexico); Christian Matson, Theatre artist, scholar, monk (Kentucky); Orlando Pabotoy, Performer, deviser (NYC); Mauricio Salgado, Theatre artist, teacher (NYC)
How storytelling convenes, sustains, & conveys communities. A conversation among practitioners, live & online, with q/a. How is telling a story like tolling a bell – a summoning, a celebration, or a mournful mark of passage? How do we re-tell stories without perpetrating appropriative extraction? How does origin love us forward, more than we capture, reduce, and sell our blessings?
Hosted by Erik Ehn. Participants: Chen Alon (Israel); Claudia Bernardi (Virginia); Catherine Filloux (NYC); Robin Hutchinson (England)
Deer Dancer (Poems by Joy Harjo)
Dance/Theatre 20 min
A reading/performance of selected poems from Joy Harjo’s In Love and War. Matter & spirit are permeable to each other. Hurt & healing are nearer-at-hand than our numb & hectic times suggest.
“In Mad Love and War has the power and beauty of prophecy and all the hope of love poised at its passionate beginning.” – Kathleene West
Produced by Dancing With Fire – a Native led & focused Albuquerque production company.
Performed by Kimberly Gleason
Relations
Theatre 15 min
A retelling of a Navajo legend. In the traditional version, a person is kidnapped & faces death; saved not by a single savior, but through the guidance of the Holy People, belief, & inner strength. The journey concludes with the person’s return, carrying back a powerful lesson for the people. In this retelling, Desiree’s story follows a similar path: though she is rescued from danger, her greatest transformation comes through reconnecting with Diné culture & carrying its wisdom forward.
Produced by Dancing With Fire – a Native led & focused Albuquerque production company.
Email us at [email protected] so we can respond to your questions and requests. Please email from your CUNY email address if possible. Or visit our help site for more information:
