Event

Rites of Passage

Rites of Passage is a journey through the initiatory stages in women's lives from girlhood through elder-hood, using theatre, dance, music, visual art and film. It will be performed over 4 nights from June 7th through the 10th. Rites of Passage explores what it means to be a woman in each of these life stages; our experiences of innocence, creation, aging, longing and joy. Our trials and losses, as much as our shining moments, comprise our initiations, and it is through initiation that we find our powers and gifts as women.

In the desire to celebrate and value these experiences in our lives that too often pass unceremoniously, or in dread, the performances are "rites of passages" composed of personal stories from the lives of participating ensemble members, choreographed dance, and sublime "rituals" that emerge from routine domestic gestures. The entire production from start to finish will involve dozens of local people (mostly women age 1 to 90), and a 5-piece female brass Balkan marching band.

In part one, each of the rooms in the house will represent a stage or a theme in women's lives and is curated by a different local woman artist. The audience will travel through the house in a loop, observing and sometimes interacting with the art, objects and performers in this living museum. Part two is a short dance-play that will take place in one large room.