Open Call: Nazareth Hassan

JUN 11, 2021
A chamber choral text performance that explores the pleasure, violence, and necessity of disembodiment
In The Works
Meet the artist

over 3 years ago

I Am Nazareth Hassan

About this commission

Nazareth Hassan’s Untitled (1 – 5), the first play in his series called “This much nothing,” is an exploration of opacity. The rhythms of language and choreography take on a central role in the piece as performers’ bodies become sculptural, their figures and forms fractured and exalted.

By stripping down certain characteristics of our emotional landscape, the artist distills cultural elements in order to examine its pieces as they truly are, seeing them clearly in their aesthetic, emotional, and visceral nature. In a time when identity (which for the artist means how one is perceived) dictates much of what is possible for the self (or how one perceives oneself) in social life, Hassan makes space for the self-before-identity, so that individual identities and the self don’t become conflated. By getting rid of the pressure to justify Black life, he offers an appreciation of its innate qualities without explanation by asking, “What is the texture of our idioms? Where does the rhythm of our laughter lie in the body? How do we flourish in silence? What is the instinctual, subconscious poetry of our aliveness?”

Creative Team and Cast

A photo of the artist Nazareth Hassan who has a beard and wears glasses, smiling against an outdoor background with grass and sunshine.
Photo: Victoria Hagood.
Nazareth Hassan
A Black woman with curly shoulder-length hair looking at the camera with one eyebrow raised. She wears small gold hoop earrings with pearls on the ends
Courtesy Sumayya Bisseret Martinez.
Sumayya Bisseret Martinez
A Black woman standing on the Brooklyn Bridge in full sunlight wearing a white fur vest and hood
Courtesy Aja Downing.
Aja Downing
A Black woman with short hair pulled back behind her head. She is wearing a pink tank top and smiling.
Courtesy Keyana Hemphill.
Keyana Hemphill
A Black person with short hair wearing a black tank top and standing against a neutral background.
Photo: @byeantonio.
Mariyea Jackson
A person with short brown hair seen from the chest up, with arms at his sides and his head at a slight angle while he looks at the camera. He stands against a neutral background.
Photo: Dion Lamar Mills.
Tony Jenkins
A Black woman with long hair swept over her right shoulder smiling and wearing a denim button down shirt against a blurry brown-orange wall in the background
Courtesy Sierra Leverett.
Sierra Leverett
Nazareth Hassan
Playwright, Co-director, Sound, Video
Nazareth Hassan is a southern writer and musician based in Brooklyn. He is the 2017 recipient of the Dramatist Guild Young Playwright Award and the 2019 recipient of the Himan Brown Writing Award. His plays have been shown and workshopped in cities including New York, London, and Berlin and at institutions including the Bushwick Starr, Theatertreffen Stückemarkt, Horizon Theater Company, and the Royal Court Theatre, where he is currently under workshop and a part of their long form writer’s group. He is also a member of the Clubbed Thumb Early Career Writer’s Group. His essays and fiction have been published by Waif Magazine, ThreadMag, and Without Further Ado. He has performed as a singer at venues including Boston Symphony Hall, Joe’s Pub, Atlanta Symphony Hall, the Fox Theatre, Mercury Lounge, New York Comic-Con, and Lincoln Center. His debut EP, Until Ever, will be released early 2021. He received an MFA in playwriting from Brooklyn College.
Talia Paulette Oliveras
Co-director
Talia Paulette Oliveras (she/they) is a Blk Latinx artist who builds interdisciplinary, experiential, and ritualistic community spaces within the medium of theater. Oliveras has worked on productions with Musical Theatre Factory, Theater Mitu (Hybrid Arts Lab), Dixon Place (HOT! Fest), JACK, 13EXP, Mabou Mines, Big Green Theater (Superhero Clubhouse/Bushwick Starr), BAM (Next Wave Festival), Ars Nova (ANT Fest, Makers Lab), the Public (Under the Radar), and more. Oliveras also makes work alongside their artistic soulmate, Nia Farrell, as Ta-Nia: a theater-making duo dedicated to making Blk space in an anti-Blk society. Ta-Nia has presented work in Ars Nova’s ANT Fest 2019 and will be in Theatretreffen’s Stückemarkt 2021. Currently, Ta-Nia is developing their sophomore project with the Soho Rep 2019 – 21 Writer/Director LAB and is a finalist for SPACE on Ryder Farm’s Creative Residency 2021. Learn more at taliaoliveras.com or on Instagram @talia.jpeg.
Ava Elizabeth Novak
Assistant Director, Production Stage Manager
Ava Elizabeth Novak is a theater- and filmmaker based in Brooklyn. They are most interested in creating works relating to Black/queer joy, healing, and radical imagination. Their recent projects include InFrank, Coming Home (engagement lead; dir. Lucas deGirolamo, Playwrights Horizons Theatre School), untitled mockumentary project (asst. director; dir. nicHi Douglas, Ars Nova), and A Plan Against Despair (creator, Vimeo).
Eri Nox
Producer
Eri Nox (they/them) is a genderqueer playwright, immersive electronic-dance-opera-maker, director, producer, and chef whose works have been developed and staged nationally and internationally. Recent productions include Quiltbag (playwright/director/performer, the Public, Weasel Festival 2019), One Leg (playwright, Rattlestick, Pride Plays 2019), and A Waste Land (adaptor/performer, Edinburgh Fringe 2017; Cloud City 2018). Upcoming work includes Playmachine Festival (chef, August 2021 in NYC); The Agenda (playwright, Nov – Dec 2021 at Teatr Slowackiego, Krakow, Poland). www.playmachine.org / www.nox.theater
Brett Castro
Sound
DJ Potts
Sound Technician
Dion Lamar Mills
Video
Dion Lamar Mills (they/she) is a non-binary transgender image-maker living in Brooklyn with their eyes on a bright star somewhere far beyond the perimeter of this universe. They were born and raised in the mountains of western North Carolina, where, like much of the South, their adolescence was mirage and ephemera. They use images, the ripe collaborative space which lies just beneath them, and the extraterrestrial magic of unabashed imagination in order to transfigure the present—and some inevitable future—and to make more resilient those gossamer threads of their memory which seem to stack and blur themselves into each other ever more quickly along this particular continuum. Recent work includes M.A.P (Adidas x Pharrell Williams, GQ, Collina Strada, Highsnobiety8, *Kaleidoscope Magazine), Byrdie, Clubbed Thumb (NYC), Patrick Church NY. For Avery…what worlds we were promised—oh, but what worlds we’ve wrought! @dionlamarmills / dionlamarmills.com
Talia Paulette Oliveras
Video
Talia Paulette Oliveras (she/they) is a Blk Latinx artist who builds interdisciplinary, experiential, and ritualistic community spaces within the medium of theater. Oliveras has worked on productions with Musical Theatre Factory, Theater Mitu (Hybrid Arts Lab), Dixon Place (HOT! Fest), JACK, 13EXP, Mabou Mines, Big Green Theater (Superhero Clubhouse/Bushwick Starr), BAM (Next Wave Festival), Ars Nova (ANT Fest, Makers Lab), the Public (Under the Radar), and more. Oliveras also makes work alongside their artistic soulmate, Nia Farrell, as Ta-Nia: a theater-making duo dedicated to making Blk space in an anti-Blk society. Ta-Nia has presented work in Ars Nova’s ANT Fest 2019 and will be in Theatretreffen’s Stückemarkt 2021. Currently, Ta-Nia is developing their sophomore project with the Soho Rep 2019 – 21 Writer/Director LAB and is a finalist for SPACE on Ryder Farm’s Creative Residency 2021. Learn more at taliaoliveras.com or on Instagram @talia.jpeg.
Ryan Wilbat
Set Designer, Costume Designer
Ryan Wilbat (they/he) is a scenic and costume designer working across multiple mediums including theater, film, fashion, and commercial. Wilbat’s recent TV credits include The Green Veil (assistant costume designer) and Harlem (costume production assistant). They work as a scenic design associate to Daniel Soule on projects such as The Amen Corner (Shakespeare Theatre Company), For All The Women Who Thought They Were Mad (Soho Rep.) and Canyon (LATC). Other credits include the costume design for Arcade Amerikana (Industry City) and working for brands such as Official Rebrand and Chris Habana. As a lover of collaborative art making, Ryan is overjoyed to be back in the theater with such a talented group of creators.
Itohan Edoloyi
Lighting
Sumayya Bisseret Martinez
Cast Member
Sumayya Bisseret Martinez (she/her) is an actress and current student at NYU Tisch, double majoring in theater and social and cultural analysis. Martinez’s previous roles include playing S1 in Escape: Cold Feet, Kylie Jenner in Race to the Finish, and Gertrude in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Bisseret Martinez is ecstatic to be a part of this amazing cast and crew, who have been dedicated to creating art under extraordinary circumstances. She thanks her parents, Mona and Cleveland, for their support from Oakland to New York. Bisseret Martinez also has additional thanks for her grandparents, Velia and Jean, for guiding her towards a life in the arts. You can find her on instagram @busy.su or performing sketch comedy at Hammerkatz NYU.
Aja Downing
Cast Member
Aja Downing is extremely pleased and excited to be apart of this project and ready for all the projects to come. Downing graduated from the American Musical Arts Academy in 2016. Some of Downing’s previous roles were Annette in TjLovesSally4eva, Fairy Godmother in Cinderella, Jojo in Cher Chez Le Femme, Cassandra in Alex and Eugene, Christine Daaé in The Phantom of the Opera, Aida in Aida, and Ella Baker in Bayard: a new musical. Downing would like to thank her mom and dad for all their support and love! Downing also thanks the incredible cast and crew of this project!
Keyana Hemphill
Cast Member
Keyana Hemphill (she/her) is a New York–based actor, stage manager, and french fry fanatic. She is excited to be back at The Shed makin’ art and takin’ names! Most recently, she was assistant stage manager for nicHi douglas’ where love lies fallow (The Shed and the Public). She received her BFA from NYU Tisch in 2017. Theater credits include Karyl Singers in The End of Incorporated Filth (The Chain Theatre), Liv in Antarabhava (The Brick), Duke Frederick/Duke Senior in As You Like It (Breaking & Entering Theatre Co.), Our House Is Haunted (Dixon Place), Female Ensemble in If You Give A Kid A Sucker (The Hive), Anna in I was unbecoming then (ANT Fest), Louis XVI in Incorruptible (Joust Theatre Co.), and King of France/Countess in All’s Well That Ends Well (The Brick). Web credits include Too Far Web Series (YouTube).
Mariyea Jackson
Cast Member
Mariyea Jackson (she/they/he) is a Brooklyn-based performer, engaging passions for joyous collaboration and radical inclusivity in their work. Jackson delights in creation that clutters the boundaries of our most fundamental structures (i.e., gender, sexuality, race, and spirituality). Their previous credits include works presented at the New Ohio Theatre, Dixon Place, the Delacorte, and Joe’s Pub among others. Jackson would like to thank their family and friends for their incredible support. A special thank you and shout out to this incredible cast, our creative team, and Ava, Naz, and Talia. #blacktranslivesmatter
Tony Jenkins
Cast Member
Tony Jenkins (he/they) is a Brooklyn-based actor, playwright, musician, and spoken-word poet making art at the intersections. With a love ethic driving his creative exploration, these days Jenkins is most interested in the transformative power of forgiveness and the magical rediscovery of innocence. As a performer, some credits include The Belle’s Stratagem (Red Bull Theater Co), BLACK MAGIC (Soho Rep/Fringe NYC), MMF (Attic Theater Co), Roller Dynasty (Sprout Works), ghost dad (i can’t die) (Bushwick Starr/nicHi douglas), and Magic Pearl (Lincoln Center Ed). Jenkins is a graduate of UNC School of the Arts.
Sierra Leverett
Cast Member
Sierra Leverett (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based actor, singer, and creative artist raised in the sunshine of Phoenix with the soul of her family’s southern roots running deep in her spirit. As a graduate of NYU’s drama program, she is overwhelmed to see the city’s art scene finally able to return to its bustling fulfillment. She is ecstatic to return to The Shed’s Open Call stage under the prime direction and encouragement of her cast and production team. Most recently, you’ve seen her in the titular role in Tj Loves Sally 4 Ever (a New York Times Critic Pick at Jack Theater), Where Love Lies Fallow (The Public Theatre Under the Radar Festival and The Shed Open Call, 2019), and Counting Backwards (The Armory). To keep an eye on her upcoming projects, you can find her at sierraleverett.com and yagurl_si on instagram. She wants to thank Naz, Talia, and the rest of her amazing cast and crew for their inspiring dedication to this show and artform.

Credits

Production Credits

Text by Nazareth Hassan
Directed by Nazareth Hassan and Talia Paulette Oliveras

Featuring
Sumayya Bisseret Martinez
Aja Downing
Keyana Hemphill
Mariyea Jackson
Tony Jenkins
Sierra Leverett

Ava Elizabeth Novak, Assistant Director/Production Stage Manager
Sound by Brett Castro and Nazareth Hassan
DJ Potts, Sound Technician
Video by Dion Lamar Mills, Talia Oliveras, and Nazareth Hassan
Ryan Wilbat, Set Designer/Costume Designer
Lighting by Itohan Edoloyi

Eri Nox, Producer
Co-produced by Cul de Sac Studios and Playmachine

Shed Production Credits

Itohan Edoloyi, Lighting 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

Sean Meehan, Assistant Video
Maytté Martinez, Lighting Programmer
Mike Diaz, Assistant Carpenter
Harry Platt, Monitor Engineer

Acknowledgments
Special thanks to Oye Group, Abrons Arts Center, Gibney Dance, New Georges.
In The Works
Read More about this commission

over 3 years ago

Between Artists: Nazareth Hassan and Tajh Rust
In early April, Nazareth Hassan and Tajh Rust met virtually to talk about their new works, as well as the ways they collaborate with others and their thoughts on the value of opacity as a condition for relating to Blackness and other forms of identity, other people, and their own selves.
Read more

Location and dates

This event takes place in The McCourt.
Friday, June 11, 7 pm

Accessibility

Please note: This performance includes the use of bright lights and strobe 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.

This performance will include ASL interpretation with Deaf interpreters coordinated and supported by a hearing interpreter (provided by Gregor Lopes and Brandon Kazen-Maddox). To request live audio description, please email info@theshed.org or call (646) 455-3494 at least 10 days prior to the performance date.

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

Arriving at The Shed

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.

During the Performance

Please note: This performance includes the use of bright lights and strobe and haze effects.

Nazareth Hassan’s performance lasts approximately 40 minutes and is lit by yellow lighting throughout its duration. Seats will be arranged along the walls of The McCourt in a U-formation of several rows, set in front of a four-foot-high stage. Performers will be positioned on the stage and will also move onto the floor and around the audience. There is some loud, frenzied laughter at the beginning of the performance and one section of intense, powerful vocal parts. For any additional access needs or requests, please email info@theshed.org or call (646) 455-3494.

Details

  • Running time: 40 minutes
  • Please note: This performance includes the use of bright lights and strobe and haze effects.
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The Lead Sponsor of Open Call is
Support for Open Call is generously provided by

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.