JACK & considers re-entry into society after prison; focusing not on the time one has served, but the measure of one’s dreaming that is given to the state. “Jack” works the night shift at an industrial bakery. He returns home to bake a cake for his wife “Jill.” “Jack” ends up whirling through a dance – part dream, part ritual – re-entering his own internal life. The performance draws on aspirational class stories like those in The Honeymooners and Amos & Andy; the paintings of Agnes Martin, Ellen Gallagher and Ruth Azawa; tigers in Harlem; real and imagined entering society ceremonies like Cotillion balls; and markers of transition from John Canoe traditions, to the mirroring and mimicry found in African American dance pageantry of the late 19th Century.

For touring inquires please contact studio@knz.org

JACK & premiered at Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center in 2018.

PRESS
NY Times Review: Review: An Actor’s Life Story Grounds ‘Jack &’ With ‘The Cotillion’

Out There’s ‘Jack &’ considers a life after prison | City Pages

New Yorker on JACK&

TOURING
New York Live Arts, New York, NY (2019)
Walker Arts Center Out There Festival, Minneapolis, MN (2019)
REDCAT, Los Angeles, CA (2018)
BAM Next Wave Festival, Brooklyn, NY (2018)
Lumberyard Contemporary Performing Arts, Catskill, New York (2018)
TBA Festival: PICA (Portland Institute of Contemporary Art) Portland, OR (2018)
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL (2018
On the Boards, Seattle, WA (2018)
Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH (2018)

JACK & was co-commissioned by Walker Arts Center, REDCAT, On The Boards, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, Hartford Stage. JACK & is supported by a 2017 MAP Fund award, 2017 National Performance Network Creation and Development Fund Grant, 2017 NEFA National Theater Project Award, 2016 Creative Capital Award, Project& with Jane Saks; and was developed through residencies at Baryshnikov Arts Center, BRIC, and New York Live Arts. Kaneza Schaal is a 2019 USA Fellow.

Creative Team and Collaborators
Christopher Myers, Cornell Nate Alston, Rucyl Mills, Stacey Robinson, Modesto Flako Jimenez, Cheyanne Williams, Clarissa Ligon, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Megan Lang, Naomi Saito, Rachel Silverman, Jane Jung, Daphne Gaines, April Matthis, William Hyman, Robert Chapelle, Ashley Vellano.

Photo by Christopher Myers

 

Photo: Ryan Muir

 

Christopher Myers

 

Photo: Amani Ragland

Christopher Myers

Photo: Kaneza Schaal

 

Photo: Christopher Myers