Uncommon Voices
Uncommon Voices is a new work developmental residency program that gives artists working at the intersection of theatre and social change the tools to engage in a collaborative creative process to build stories that spark conversation and promote community.
We offer support to artists to create genre-bending work and think deeply about the story they are telling, where it belongs and to whom it speaks.
Originally launched in 2019, it was shut down due to Covid-19. Uncommon Voices returned in 2022 and will continue to grow as a program with a new strategy, in which we give the artists we work with greater support in two phases.
Artists who enter the process for Phase One receive a commission and a sharing with a small audience in whatever form is appropriate to the piece.
For artists that we select for Phase Two, we provide funding for an extended workshop with a small presentation based on the needs of the piece.
SEPTEMBER
BRICKS
A 20-YEAR MUSIC TOUR OF REPARATIONS
BRICKS created by Charlene Jean and co-composed with Franklin Rankin is about the buried communities of formerly enslaved Black people that are relatively innocuous to the passerby. It is an always-changing script template detailing the history-repeating shared injustice of “buried” towns. The story is of a mother seeking to protect her child from the intense spirits which emerge from these buried towns by giving her a spirit blinder, Baker-Miller pink glasses. We consider the repercussions of that spiritual blindness and the need to recognize the truth of our histories through the lens of land memory, family, and ancestry, which unlocks the site-specific history.
SPACE BRIDGE
Presentation of a new project with Irina Kruzhilina, the auteur, director, and designer who created A Dozen Dreams with En Garde Arts in 2020. SpaceBridge is an intergenerational performance and spatial installation, bridging multimedia, visual theater, and cultural diplomacy; it explores the impact of cross-cultural polarization on young people, specifically focusing on the political and social relationships between the United States and Russia.
PAST UNCOMMON VOICES
MARCH 2023
UNTITLED.
A work in progress presentation written by MJ Kaufman with direction by NJ Agwuna Untitled (Working Title), is a multimedia piece in meditating on the themes of trans masculinity, intimacy, and loss.
A week of rehearsals will investigate how to integrate live performance and film in the story.
APRIL 2023
Spanglish Sh!t
Date: April 3rd
Place: Ideal Glass Studios
A bilingual brujería musical.
Book and Lyrics by Samora La Perdida, Music by Josiah Handelman, Matthew Zwiebel and Mobéy Lola Irizarry.
Small audience for work in progress presentation Monday, April 3rd.
Spanglish Sh!t iis a bilingual musical about the emotional and spiritual cost of denying your origins; The piece tells the story of Brujita who runs the most poppin’ Puerto Rican restaurant in East Harlem, enchanting customers with her magical meals. But when an old family recipe calls for a tablespoon of her Spanish, she must make a shocking confession… and wrestle with the demons of her whitewashed past.
Red Hook History Project 2023
Date: April 19th
Place: Coffey Street Studio
Sarah Gancher and Jared Mezzocchi are creating a is a multimedia site-specific piece about deep time, inspired by the history of the Red Hook watering hole and music venue Sunny’s. A co-commission with the Vineyard Theatre.
MAY 2023
CARRY YOU
Date: POSTPONED
Place: The Owl Music Parlor
Leila Buck’s “Carry You”; a piece inspired by her long journey into motherhood and its intersection with her father’s diagnosis with Parkinson’s and declining/aging – all of which becomes a personal reference for exploring how we decide to care for those we love/are responsible for in our families reflect/shape/connect upon how we care for each other in communities and as a nation. Recipient of Fox Foundation Fellowship.
JUNE 2023
73 SECONDS
Date: June 9th
Place: Jefferson Market Library (425 6th Ave, New York, NY 10011)
Time: 7PM, following a talkback
A workshop presentation of a new project called 73 Seconds by Jared Mezzocchi, “Multi-media whiz” – NY Times . Mezzocchi tells the true story of his relationship to his mother after she is invited by NASA to go into outer space. 73 Seconds is a piece about outer space, family, and our inability to cope with long-term catastrophe. Directed by Aya Ogawa. (2023 Obie for The Nosebleed)
We are thrilled to give support to some of New York City’s most exciting creative voices. We hope you will donate to En Garde Arts to support our company and the artists we treasure.