Open Call: Nia O. Witherspoon
About this commission
WE ARE INNOCENT
WE ARE INNOCENT
WE ARE INNOCENT
—Diamond Reynolds
The Dark Girl Chronicles is a ritual-play cycle designed to crystallize in the collective memory the stories of Black women warriors against state violence. Part Yoruba sacred story, part communal ritual, and part documentary-manifesto, each piece in the cycle focuses on the interiority and necessary dignity of dark girls, dark landscapes, and dark knowledges so often excised from the public arena.
CHRONICLE X, the first section in the cycle, refers to and is inspired by two major existing texts. The first is a creation story from the Odu Ifa, the corpus of sacred oral literature from the Yoruba people of Nigeria that if written would exceed 4,000 pages, about the three most powerful bits of stardust in the universe—Knowledge, Wisdom, and Understanding. The second are transcripts primarily drawn from the Facebook Live posting Diamond Reynolds made after her fiancé Philando Castile was shot by a police officer at a traffic stop, in addition to investigation video transcripts from her detention at a police station for eight hours while Castile lay dying in the hospital. He died while she was being questioned. These stories of Black women are parables that hold knowledge that is critical to the evolution of our species.
Creative Team and Cast
The Story of this commission
Numbers are spells
468 days Diamond Reynolds had been alive since Philando Castile had been murdered, at the taping of “Iyanla: Fix My Life” which aired on April 28, 2018
365 days a year, 7 days a week, Diamond Reynolds tells Iyanla, the two of them were together 7: the amount of times he was shot. 2: the number of bullets that went into his heart. 9 days before his birthday, Philando Castile was murdered.
July 16: Philando Castile’s birthday.
4 years old is the age of Diamond Reynold’s daughter, who Philando Castile was a father figure to.
8:45 pm: The time Philando Castile and Diamond Reynolds were pulled over. 9:20 pm: the time Philando Castile was pronounced dead
32: how old he was at the time of death
433: Case number
23:48: time Diamond Reynolds finished her investigation, after being held at the police station from 9 pm until 5 am for 8 hours—after the shooting. She says they treated her like it was her fault.
Credits and Acknowledgments
Itohan Edoloyi, Lighting Co-design Coordinator
DJ Potts, Audio Design Coordinator
Erica Schnitzer, Stage Coordinator
Stefan Carrillo, Head Carpenter - McCourt
Stuart Burgess, Head Electrician - McCourt
Jim Van Bergen, Head Audio - McCourt
Adam Farquharson, Production Video
Maytté Martinez, Lighting Programmer
Seth Huling, Assistant Audio
Harry Platt, A2
Sean Meehan, Assistant Video
Mike Diaz, Assistant Carpenter
Accessibility
Please note: This performance includes strobe, fog, and haze effects.
The Shed’s spaces are all wheelchair accessible. This event takes place in The McCourt.
Assistive listening is available on your smartphone over The Shed’s free Wi-Fi network via the free Listen Everywhere app. Devices will be available for you to borrow at the ticketing desk if you do not want to use your own smartphone.
Download the Listen Everywhere app before you arrive.
To request ASL interpretation or live audio description, please email info@theshed.org or call (646) 455-3494 at least 10 days in advance of the performance.
To learn more about what to expect during your visit and the performance, please read these descriptions.
If you have any questions or other requests, please email info@theshed.org or call (646) 455-3494.
What to Expect
Thank you for planning a visit to The Shed. We’re looking forward to welcoming you for Open Call. Currently, the entrance to our building is through The McCourt door on the east side of our building adjacent to the Hudson Yards Public Square. The McCourt is a large performance space created when The Shed’s shell, or movable roof, rolls out to cover the plaza on the east side of the building. You can access this entrance from 11th Avenue and Hudson Boulevard, just one block north of 30th Street, or from the 34 St–Hudson Yards subway station between 10th and 11th Avenues.
As you arrive at The Shed, you will enter The McCourt through a wide, unobstructed entrance at the southeast corner of the building. It is close to the area where the High Line meets Hudson Yards at 30th Street. Most performances will take place in The McCourt. You will pass through this space to enter the rest of the building and access the Level 2 Gallery and The Tisch Skylights for the exhibition and other performances.
The shell of The McCourt is covered in a shiny, pillowy material, and its floor is level with the ground of the plaza. The Shed’s building, including The McCourt, is wheelchair accessible. You will scan your own ticket on your smartphone, with help if needed from a friendly visitor experience staff member standing nearby wearing a black t-shirt and ID badge on a purple lanyard.
Once you’re inside The McCourt you’re protected from the sun and weather but the space still feels open. The McCourt has 110-foot-high ceilings and feels airy with large wall panels lifted so the space remains open to the outdoors. You can feel the breeze and hear the activity on the plaza and on the streets in the distance, and light from the plaza and the Shops at Hudson Yards filters into the space after sunset.
The flooring in The McCourt is made of hard paving stones. They are in two shades of gray, and the lighter stones stretch across the east and west sides of The McCourt to form a large artwork by Lawrence Weiner that reads “In front of itself” in large letters. (This phrase is also the title of the work.) The letters on the east side of the space are partly covered by the Open Call stage so you can only partially read the phrase.
Seating in The McCourt is general admission, so you can choose from any available spot. The seats have armrests and thick cushions, and some are folding chairs that flip up as you stand up from them. If you would like help in finding a seat, a staff member at the entrance can guide you.
For any additional access needs or requests, please email info@theshed.org or call (646) 455-3494.
Please note that this performance includes strobe, fog, and haze effects.
Nia O. Witherspoon’s performance is a play that runs for 90 minutes after an approximately 30-minute period for audience members to find their seats. Shed staff and performers will greet you at the door to welcome you and help you download an augmented reality app on your phone for use during the performance. You will then enter the performance space through a free-standing door frame, 28 by 80 inches (approximately 2.5 by 6.5 feet). Seats will be arranged in three concentric circles with pods of two seats distanced six feet from each other.
You will be given headphones that you will wear to experience the audio of the performance for approximately 60 minutes, or about two-thirds of the play’s total running time. During the play, performers will move around the circular seating area, from a balcony space at the west end of The McCourt one level above the floor, through a central runway that bisects the seating, onto a four-foot-high stage at the east end of the space.
There are tonal shifts in energy using light and audio during the play, including strobe light effects. At the start of the performance, The McCourt is darkened for a meditative beginning, with the only light filtering in from the public space outside the building. The play then shifts to louder concert moments accompanied by glittering use of light and passages of atmospheric sound reminiscent of echoes. The live sound elements include a three-piece band seated on the floor level by the stage.
Light sources are anchored to door frame structures that define the circumference of the performance and seating space behind the audience, and performers will also carry smartphone flashlights with them as mobile light sources. There will be additional lights in the balcony and shining out of a throne made of piled car parts that sits on the stage.
For any additional access needs or requests, please email info@theshed.org or call (646) 455-3494.
Location and dates
Friday, June 4, 8 pm
Details
- Please note: This performance includes strobe, fog, and haze effects.
- Running time: Approximately 120 minutes
- Nia O. Witherspoon’s Chronicle X invokes multiple technologies, including augmented reality (AR). To fully experience Chronicle X, please download the free AR Blinxel app on your smartphone before you arrive at The Shed.
Thank you to our partners
Additional support for Open Call is provided by Jody and John Arnhold | Arnhold Foundation.
The creation of new work at The Shed is generously supported by the Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Commissioning Fund and the Shed Commissioners. Major support for live productions at The Shed is provided by the Charina Endowment Fund.