"The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at the Graduate Center, CUNY in New York City is proud to present ‘Prelude 2021: Start Making Sense!’

 

Inspired by rock musician Jehnny Beth’s battle cry, Prelude ’21 investigates what it means to create theatre and performance in this phase of the Covid-19 pandemic. If we have learned anything this past year, it is that we have to question everything. That we must listen carefully, and that we must look hard to find radical new answers. It is not just important what we present, but why we present it, how we produce it, and for whom.

 

Inspired by Prelude curator Jay Wegman, we’re exploring a radically new format titled ‘Chain Curating’. We at the Segal Center chose 3 curators from New York. Each initial curator nominated just one artist – and selected a fellow curator to do the same. This chain model has provided us with 12 brilliant New York curators and 12 truly diverse New York artists/ensembles who have something to say.

 

Unfortunately, the Graduate Center at CUNY is still closed for public programs. Taking advantage of our online presence, we have invited – for the first time since Prelude’s inception and with help of a pan-US curator – seven US theatre and performance companies to explore their artistic practice and critical discourse as part of this year’s festival. Digitally hosting artists from Austin, Cleveland, Detroit, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and San Francisco is our small way of showing support in this difficult time to groundbreaking regional performance work, signaling that the metropolitan cultural supremacy of New York City is being challenged successfully by experimental ensembles who have space, time, and close ties to the communities they work in. 

 

The Prelude Festival is the annual flagship event of the Segal Center, and has been providing a safe and inclusive space for works-in-progress by more than 300 artists, critics, activists, and producers at the forefront of contemporary New York City theatre, dance, interdisciplinary, and mediatized performance since 2003. We can’t wait for the questions Prelude 2021’s participating artists – from New York and across the US – will pose to us."