DELIRIOUS Dances presents the World Premiere of WASTELANDIA

DELIRIOUS Dances, The Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art at Snug Harbor, and Creative Producer Lai-Lin Robinson present the World Premiere of WASTELANDIA on Friday and Saturday, September 19, 20, 26 and 27 with Creative Reuse Workshop at 6pm, and performance at 7pm; and Sunday, September 21 and 28 at Creative Reuse Workshop at 2pm and performance at 3pm, in four gallery spaces at the Newhouse Center located in Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden on Staten Island, NY at 1000 Richmond Terrace, Staten Island, NY 10301. Tickets: $20 students/seniors, $30 general, $50 supporters, $75 rockstars. Each ticket supports the work and the community and can be purchased online at https://snug-harbor.org/event/wastelandia-by-edisa-weeks-delirious-dances/.

WASTELANDIA is a performance ritual constructed from recycled plastic that invites the audience to engage in a multi-layered visual and immersive experience. Through theater, dance, discussions, craft-making, and visual art, the audience is taken on an interactive journey that examines our dependency on fossil fuels and asks how we can be better stewards of the earth.

WASTELANDIA is a mash-up between a DIY Haunted house, Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, and a dance performance. The experience begins in The Greenroom, which is an interactive educational space where the audience can:

• Participate in creative reuse workshops such as making beads out of plastic straws or musical instruments out of discarded objects in collaboration with Materials for the Arts.
• Color in a chalk mural depicting images and quotes by seven remarkable Black and Hispanic women who are social justice and environmental activists in the Staten Island Community: Debbie Anne Paige, Dorcas Meyers, Heather Butts, Jasi (Jasmine) Robinson, Kelly Vilar, Lori Love, Petula Gay
• Listen and/or participate in a discussion on how we can responsibly divest from fossil fuels, viable alternatives to fossil fuel based plastics, as well as the health implications of microplastics accumulating in our brains and internal organs.

The 3 RITES Trilogy (Life, Liberty, Happiness) humorously and poignantly interrogates why life, liberty and happiness were included as unalienable rights in the United States Declaration of Independence. The trilogy explores what the right to life, liberty, and happiness means today, who has access to these rights, and how they manifest in the body. 3 RITES is a National Performance Network/Visual Artists Network (NPN/VAN) Creation & Development Fund Project co-commissioned by 651 ARTS, Mount Tremper Arts, RestorationART, Kelly Strayhorn Theater, DancePlace and NPN/VAN. 3 RITES is made possible in part through funding from the Brooklyn Arts Council; Creative Capital; Durst Organization; The Harkness Foundation for Dance; MAP Fund; New Music USA; The New England Foundation for the Arts, National Dance Project which is generously supported with lead funding from the Doris Duke Foundation and the Mellon Foundation; New Music USA; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; a PSC-CUNY Award, jointly funded by The Professional Staff Congress and The City University of New York; The Puffin Foundation; as well as through the sponsorship of The Field; and the generosity of individuals.

About DELIRIOUS Dances / Edisa Weeks

Founded by multi-disciplinary artist Edisa Weeks, DELIRIOUS Dances seeks to erase the barriers between art and life, between performance space and audience space, and between mediums. We are interested in finding ways for the audience to interact with and influence the experience of a work. We believe that art revitalizes the everyday to reveal something new about ourselves, and the revelation is an energy, a spark that has the power to change the world. www.deliriousdances.com

Edisa Weeks creates multimedia interactive work that merges theater with dance to explore our deepest desires, darkest fears and sweetest dreams. She grew up in Uganda, Papua New Guinea and Brooklyn, NY; teaches choreography, improvisation, modern technique, and mentors emerging artists at Queens College, CUNY; and is a Scholar-in-Residence at The New School.

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