the dance floor, the hospital room, and the kitchen table (DANCEFLOOR) stitches together stories from COVID-19 and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Three queer researchers slip between the present and the past, becoming, interacting with, and learning from a chorus of voices from a critical moment in the queer liberation movement. The script draws from over 40 long-form interviews with caretakers, activists, organizers, and long-term survivors. DANCEFLOOR’s entire premise is RARE for many reasons. It was created by a diverse, all Trans and Queer team. It is also RARE because the primary source materials are from our Queer Elders. These stories look at folks often left out of the normative narrative around HIV (highlighting trans* folks, women, people of color, and folks living in Pittsburgh and New Orleans)
DANCEFLOOR’s Lighting design is RARE in the ways in its use of saturated color palettes to express the viberence of the queer community. It uses bold color combinations to energize the space. Along with tempo and intensity, these RARE color choices tell us when and what objects are coming from the past. In this show color is used to help us understand how the lessons from the past are seeping in and affecting us in our present day. We can see this as we notice the show becomes more and more saturated as the show progresses. It is a RARE story arch of color.
DANCEFLOOR’s Lighting design is also RARE in its seamless integration with its Media design. In collaboration with the Media designer, we build an ever changing world that brings us to the past in a futuristic way. At times lighting works with the media to amplify each other, though color and intensity. In other moments we divide and conquer by contrasting each other to add another layer of complexities. The design also achieves something RARE as it plays with the ideas of hunting from the past towards a profound connection to joyfulness, and hopefulness.
Production Credits
Production Credits
The Kelly Strayhorn Theater – Pittsburgh
The Contemporary Arts Center – New Orleans
Playwright – Lyam Gabel
Director – Lyam Gabel
Composer – Kei Slaughter
Scene Design – Sasha Schwartz
Costume Design – Jean-Luc Raimond Deladurantaye
Lighting Design – André Segar
Sound Design – Eben Hoffer
Media Design – Joseph Amodei
Stage Manager – Leo Liotta
Tech Director – Jo Nazro
Assistant Scene Design – Peyton Koehler
Assistant Costume Design – Emma Pollet
Assistant Costume Design – Becca Zhou
Sound Technician – Travis Wright
Sound Technician – Steve Gilliand
Carpenter – Jebney Lewis
Photographer – Beth Barbis
Photographer – Mel Cardona
Photographer – Ryan Hodgson Rigsbee
Actors featured in Photos
Hannah Cornish
Frank Davis
Owen Ever