The School of Drama MFA Contemporary Theater and Performance program is proud to present Subterranean Memories, a devised site-specific performance that deals with the emotional, political and social reverberations of disappearance.

Subterranean Memories invites the audience on an immersive journey to a desolate no-man’s land in a distant future, where inhabitants wait for the end to come. Following a catastrophic disaster, a resilient community has established itself in the basement of an abandoned, artist complex for a hundred years. What binds these people as a community is their commitment to preserving their memories of certain things, concepts, and rituals that defined the old world and are now being replicated in the new one. The audience is welcomed to observe a moving memory ritual, as residents showcase remnants of the past era that have ceased to exist in their current world—a world stripped of handwriting, theater, birthday parties, weddings, human kindness, and seasons.

Subterranean Memories is devised by the School of Drama MFA students and directed by New School faculty Irina Kruzhilina. The performance takes place in the basement of the Westbeth artist complex, a former sculpture studio which was destroyed by the flooding caused by superstorm Sandy, and which has remained empty ever since. Subterranean Memories draws its inspiration from the rich history of both the sculpture studio as well as the larger Westbeth complex, once home to Bell Telephone Laboratories, as researched by the students during weekly rehearsals. Our reflections on the disappearance of the art, labor, and relationships once vibrant within the sculpture studio walls, prompted us to examine entities that are disappearing from our own lives. These historical and thematic explorations formed the core narrative of Subterranean Memories.

Devised, written, designed and performed by:
Alina Burke, Miranda C. Derossi, Sydney H. Green, Harper Jones, Neka Knowles, Lars Montanaro, Noah Murray, Stella Rea Barnabe, Rodrigo Pocidônio, Deana P. Taheri, Tomoka Takahashi, Michael T. Valdes, Jing Wang, Anamaría Willars, Colin Hirsch Wilson, Pau Zabaleta llauger, YuHan "Moria" Zhang

May 10: 7:30pm-9:30pm
May 11: 2:00pm-4:00pm & 7:30pm-9:30pm

Location: 

WESTBETH Basement
***Check-in is at Bank Street Theater: 151 Bank Street New York, NY 10014

***Please arrive for check-in at Bank Street Theater, then proceed to Westbeth (across the street).

***There will be some standing room seating.