ACP premieres 'Shooter,' experimental theatre piece by Y? Guyadin

On August 3rd at Jamaica Arts Center, artist and educator Yogi (Y?) Guyadin will premiere SHOOTER, an experimental theater project that explores complex power dynamics between gun violence victim and perpetrator.

Commissioned by the Queens Council on the Arts’ Artist Commissioning Program, the two-part project includes an exhibition demonstrating the collaborative work Y? has done with local community members and a culminating, autobiographical performance that tells the intense and heart-wrenching narrative of how guns impacted a young man growing up in Jamaica, Queens.

“My main inspiration for this project came from wanting to explore how we all play roles of victim and perpetrator. This is not just a piece about guns, it is much deeper,” explains Y? Guyadin. “I chose to make it about gun violence because it relates to my personal experience. It was important to me to connect this personal narrative to larger issues that are plaguing the society.”

In the months leading to the premiere, Y? and his production team ran a series of open rehearsals inviting participants to take part in the performance. Photos and videos of these open rehearsals have formed the basis of the exhibition, which will showcase testimonials from local community members role-playing as the "shooter" or the "shot" in an incident of gun violence. In this intense and immersive theatrical experience, participants were asked, “Who is the victim, the shooter or the shot?” These materials will be on display at Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning’s gallery beginning at 5pm. This imagery and content give a nuanced and profound context to the culminating performance, in which Y? explores the ramifications of a society that creates the conditions for these traumatic experiences.

“Shooter” is the first of four World Premieres that will take place in the coming months, August to October. The other 2019 awardees are artivist Kerri Edge, dancer and choreographer Guanglei Hui, and interdisciplinary artist and musician Claire Marie Lim. Full schedule and details are available on Queens Council on the Arts website: https://www.queenscouncilarts.org/art-commissioning.

About Y? Guyadin
Y? is an artist/ educator from Jamaica, Queens. After flunking out of school, he began a career as a audio engineer, interning at “Electric Lady Studios” and learning how music was created professionally by world-class musicians. The collapse of the music industry inspired Y? to host monthly showcases raising funds to provide free after school music programs in public housing community centers throughout Queens. From these workshops, he was hired by various non-profit organizations to build student-centered arts programs and work as a teaching artist creating original music compositions and performances for the community. He founded a company Creative Expressions to serve others and continue his journey as a lifelong student of expression and the arts.

About the Artist Commissioning Program

Artist Commissioning Program provides local choreographers, playwrights and composers with funding towards the creation and production of original work. The focus of this new initiative, funded by the Scherman Foundation’s Rosin Fund, is to produce new, significant works of art that diversity the American canon, as well as build a growing culture of arts support in Queens. For more information about the ACP, visit: www.queenscouncilarts.org/art-commissioning/

The ACP is made possible by generous support from the Scherman Foundation, the New York State Regional Economic Development Council and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.