In this performance’s dress rehearsal, UNIVERSES sings the sorrows of poverty surrounding the American landscape with a focus on New Orleans and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Song and movement are accompanied by vivid images and video projected on screen, commenting on issues of gentrification, natural disaster, class warfare, racial discrimination, and economic oppression. The piece also critiques the lack of healthcare coverage, issues of religious hierarchy, and the wealthy in the States. UNIVERSES activates our political imagination, considering the possibility of artists, poets, and activists taking government officials’ positions, where the common everyday person can work as an individual and as a part of a community.
Ameriville (2011)
Melissa Cardona
Ameriville at Southern Rep Theatre Program (
Additional Info
- Video: HIDVL Video
- Title: Ameriville
- Alternate Title: Ameriville - Dress Rehearsal
- Holdings: photo gallery, program, video (HIDVL)
- Duration: 01:33:28
- Language: English, Spanish
- Date: 4 Jan 2011
- Location: Recorded at The Public Theater, NYC, as part of the Under the Radar Festival
- Type-Format: performance
- Cast: Steven Sapp, Mildred Ruiz, Gamal Chasten, and Ninja (William Ruiz), performers.
- Credits: Morgan Jenness, dramaturg; Brian Sidney Bembridge, set designer; Russell Champa, lighting designer; Benjamin Marcum, sound designer; Universes, costume designer.
Image Gallery
View the embedded image gallery online at:
https://hemisphericinstitute.org/en/hidvl-collections/item/2652-universes-ameriville.html#sigProId8ce8857927
https://hemisphericinstitute.org/en/hidvl-collections/item/2652-universes-ameriville.html#sigProId8ce8857927
Published in
UNIVERSES: Works