What to Send Up When it Goes Down

See it if You want to have a moment of collective healing, if you want the chance to be in a room full of Black people celebrating themselves.

Don't see it if You're uninterested in Black people and I really mean that.

Also Aleshea Harris has crafted a ritual that is dedicated to the broken black bodies that we've gotten so used to seeing in the media. She has ripped open a space for all people, but most specifically black people to engage with this and attempt to find some sort of peace. It will happen again. It is happening now, but despite this, despite this tragedy, we are still here and there is something beautiful in that.... Read more Read less

See it if you are genuinely interested in engaging with ritual, confronting the nature of oppression, and making yourself small when necessary

Don't see it if you enjoy escapist entertainment

Also Aleshea Harris has created a sacred space. Although I felt that I was intruding as a white audience member, her space, her ritual, and her shout, must be seen and heard and pondered. A vital piece of theatre.... Read more Read less

See it if You appreciate ritual, holding space for the black community, you are comfortbale with an interactive experience

Don't see it if You are only interested in narrative, fourth-wall drama

See it if you need to process today's racial climate; to understand safe spaces; to be a non-black ally; to experience compelling performances.

Don't see it if you want pure escapism; you really hate audience participation; you don't want something "intense."

Also This is the first theatrical piece I've seen that puts the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion language and action into practice. I felt discomfort and sadness and rage and inclusion and understanding all at once. The performers themselves seem moved by the end, which only adds to the experience. True art as a response to real life despair.... Read more Read less

See it if you’re not afraid of truth, you don’t know how to process recent events/climate

Don't see it if you’re easily made uncomfortable either physically or emotionally.

See it if ..to participate in a moving group-circle experience to honor and remember those killed in racial shootings in the U.S. A call to help

Don't see it if you don't like participatory theater

See it if If you want to participate in the show, chant,write, scream etc. Some good acting in it. If you want a much different kind of piece.

Don't see it if Stories tell sometimes half truths at best. If your white, you feel uncomfortable and are made to be. If you dont like over the top rage.

See it if you like relevant, meaningful, thought-provoking theater that sticks with you long after the "curtain goes down."

Don't see it if you don't like to be challenged by what you see.

Also What a potent combination–The Movement Theatre Company and Aleshea Harris–a company at the top of its game and a playwright who is on fire.... Read more Read less

See it if you want to take part in a commemoration of black people killed because they were black, & witness a community expressing its rage & sorrow.

Don't see it if you do not want to participate: the piece begins with a commemoration ritual to which performers & audience alike contribute.

Also This is a hybrid form of ritual, testimony, drama, dance & song. If you are not black, you should be prepared to hear things that might make you uncomfortable. The performers are compelling. The dramatic segments are fragmented & intercut, but much of the material is repeated, growing in intensity with each iteration, so confusion as to what is going on is minimal. I hope that black people in the audience found exhilaration & empowerment at the event. I, an older white man, mostly felt deeply sad & baffled that black people in the post-Obama US are still the targets of so much racialized violence & so much demeaning racial stereotyping. We are all the less for it.... Read more Read less