Beneath the floors of a 19th-century church lies a forgotten gymnasium. Its tin ceiling is tarnished, its brick walls are breathing with age, and its concrete floor is uneven from decades of use. Now it becomes the stage for When They Have Their Historians, an experimental performance where memory, myth, and movement collide.
Through choreography, ritual, and childhood game gestures, nine performers reimagine forgotten histories, transforming play into resistance and nostalgia into embodied ritual.
As you step into this subterranean world, you enter a ceremony of remembering. Expect shifting light, fragments of song, the echo of footsteps against concrete, and an intimacy that moves between performance and invocation.
Performers may invite you to join a gesture, a rhythm, a moment of story. Every audience experiences a different journey through the space. Intimate, unpredictable, alive.
In this raw, historic sanctuary beneath the city, myth and memory return to motion, inviting us to witness how the past can still breathe through the body.
Due to the immersive nature of this performance, attendance is limited and advance ticket purchase is highly recommended.
Please read the Q&A section carefully before purchasing your ticket, as it contains important details about the space, audience movement, accessibility, and entry times.
Artists: Aika Takeshima, Djassi DaCosta Johnson, YAKIKAT , Jeevika Bhat, Katreen Toukhy, Mame Diarra Speis-Biaye, Shizu Homma, MotherDaughter (Jacqueline Coston)
Co-directed by: Fei Li & Gayle Fekete
WHEN THEY HAVE THEIR OWN HISTORIANS made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and is fiscally sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts
