Storied Places: A Renaissance Project

How do stories inhabit places?  What kinds of narratives shape the places in which we move, live, and remember?  When do sites become tragic, romantic. beyond our reach, or an inescapable part of our selves?

Acts of “renaissance” are nuanced and deliberate efforts of revival and of renewal that often suggest hopeful restorations and vibrant re-creations. Yet, even as these processes of revival and renewal may suggest a visible flowering, they simultaneously call attention to matters of decline and undoing. Our project is rooted in a multi-faceted, multi-disciplinary conception of renaissance, and it evokes the moving body as a site of memory, recollection, and departure.  It explores states of past and present, of vitality and decay, and of presence and absence.

Director: Nicole Stanton

Choreography: Nicole Stanton in collaboration with the performers

Original Composition and Musical Direction: Jay Hoggard

Text and Narration: Lois Brown with additional material by the performers

Visual Scenography and Design: L’Merchie Frazier

Performers, Dance and Spoken Word: Dante Brown, Sydnie Liggett, Kellie Lynch, Rick Manyan (‘17), Annie Wang

Costume Designer: Cybele Moon

Lighting and Projection Designer: Chelsie McPhilimy

This project was made possible by the support of the Center for Public Life, the Department of Dance, the Center for the Arts, the Center for African American Studies and the African American Studies Program.

VENUE: Wesleyan University Center for the Arts

Storied Places was supported by the Wesleyan University Center for the Arts “Creative Campus” initiative; Wesleyan University’s Allbritton Center for Public Life; and the Wesleyan University Department of Dance.