From the Edge

"Let us not waste our time in idle discourse! (Pause. Vehemently.) Let us do something, while we have the chance! It is not every day that we are needed. Not indeed that we personally are needed. Others would meet the case equally well, if not better. To all mankind they were addressed, those cries for help still ringing in our ears! But at this place, at this moment of time, all mankind is us, whether we like it or not. Let us make the most of it, before it is too late! Let us represent worthily for once the foul brood to which a cruel fate consigned us! What do you say?" 
- Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

This USA National exhibit is reflective of those issues consuming American performance makers today: issues of identity, healing, and obsessions with death and loss after 9/11 and hurricane Katrina; the pull of conscience that is inevitable when engaged in war; anger directed toward the obliviousness of many to the destruction of our planet; the conundrum of eating; rising political polarities (and ambiguities) in reaction to the first African-American to be elected president; tensions relative to race and gender; anxieties about technology; the role of religion in society and the challenges of the those marginalized whether they be immigrants, differently-abled or queer.

The viewer will find works that push the limits of how performance design is imagined in the USA today. Seminal founders and long standing ensembles of performance makers are recognized. Vital new designs are celebrated.

Welcome to our country on edge.