The three-day run of Cautionary Tales: A Reflection on 2025 Through Words and Movement (a collaborative dance performance for which I wrote the script) was met with a sold-out audience on day two and an oversold audience on closing night. The performance consisted of prose and poetry paired with curated music selections and riveting dance performances presented by Spencer Powell, artistic director of Mounarath Powell Dance. The theme explored our current Administration's questionable policies and reflected upon how we arrived at this historical moment in our national discourse as well as where we seem to be headed, the latter rendered in dystopian Orwellian fashion.
Despite the decidedly dark tone of the subject matter, the audience was mesmerized. I received favorable feedback for my portion of the collaboration, including from an attendee who stated he'd initially been skeptical about merging prose with choreography. Another audience member who'd purchased my chapbook, Cautionary Tales: Evocative Prose and Poetry to Contemplate for 2025, which contains the unabridged text written for the production, commented that the dance performances added a balancing and uplifting component to the overall theme.
Unfortunately, online threats led Mr. Powell to scratch widespread publicity given that he also runs a children's dance theatre company. I'm certain supporters of the Administration's appalling agenda were not among the attendees (in essence, we were "preaching to the choir"). But I entertained the notion that the performance center might be met with protest.
And yet, I found myself largely at ease going forward with this project.
They say timing is everything. For me, the timing couldn't have been better to contribute my voice of dissent through the arts. In light of the fact that the performing arts are systematically coming under attack and losing much needed funding, our theme was even more apropos as opening night approached.
Another comment I repeatedly heard was that the venue was much too small for the quality and grand nature of this production. Less than 12 hours after the final curtain call, I received word of a potential opportunity to stage Cautionary Tales at a much larger venue.
With the evident dismantling of our democracy and the rise of authoritarianism, now is not the time to "go dark."