Slow Motion Cumbia: Stages (I) is the world premiere of a syncretic, adaptable work in process, moving from haunted reckoning to creation amidst crisis. Based on new music from Maia Macdonald.

Maia Macdonald (b.1983, Class of ‘06) is an interdisciplinary artist, musician, and producer living in Brooklyn, NY. Grounded in sound, her work explores the tension between the seen and unseen, tracing concentric circles through iterative projects across mediums. Maia has spent the past five years creating her upcoming album, Slow Motion Cumbia. Stages (I), a collaboration with director Krystine Summers, is a long awaited theatrical exploration of its themes.

Halfway between really funny devised theater and culturally competent community disaster prevention, this show is about how the best way to protect yourself from flooding, climate change, and despair is through knowing your neighbors.

Sabina Sethi Unni (Class of ‘19) is a public theater artist, community organizer, and urban planner dedicated to telling funny stories about our crumbling infrastructure (and neighbors organizing to save it) in public spaces. She’s proudest of performing in open spaces in every corner of her city: Hunts Point Riverside Park, Travers Park, Queens Botanical Garden, Qahwah House Astoria, Washington Square Park, Newkirk Open Street, La Plaza Cultural, Domino Square, Queens College, Lt. Frank McConnell Park, Rockaway Beach, Gowanus Dredgers Community Boathouse, Fordham University, Snug Harbor Botanical Garden, PYO Chai, Edgemere Farm, Orchard Alley Community Garden, Rockaway Community Park, Loisaida United Community Garden, the Astoria Food Pantry, 31st Avenue Open Street, PS Family NYC, & more if you let her! 

“When I die, my epitaph should be: I died a thousand deaths." In a surreal dreamscape, legendary film star Anna May Wong comes face-to-face with her younger self in the nascent years of Hollywood's Orientalist obsessions, and retakes control of the camera's Gaze.

Annie Wang (Class of ’14) is a first-generation Chinese-American dramaturg for new plays, musicals, and opera. From new play development to revitalizing classic texts for today’s audiences, Annie’s body of work primarily investigates constructs of race, gender, and citizenship through a compassionate and critical lens. Collaborations with Cinthia Chen include: Salesman 之死 (Yangtze Rep, Obie Award for Outstanding New Play), Untitled Seagull Project (Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab), and Bloodlines (Fault Line Theater’s Irons in the Fire); projects in development include The Actress Who Died A Thousand Deaths and 7 Nights in Augustine.