Plunge

In February 2017, I participated as both “maker” and “teller” in Plunge, a Submersive Production that paired storytellers with installation artists to present unique immersive environments and one-on-one experiences exploring the theme of “the other.”

I collaborated with Kevin Griffin Moreno and Abby Becker to create the environment for their performance. I collaborated with Samantha Callanta to create the environment for my own performance, described by Andrew Sargus Klein of Bmore Art as a room that “exists in a suspended state of memory, of narrative.” Samantha and I recreated our collective grandparents’ living room, complete with furniture and knickknacks that have become so attached to stories over time, they now perform more than their original intended functions. Of course, I performed as myself, because this has been my actual lived experience in my grandparents’ former home for the past 12 years.

Plunge was my first foray into the world of performance art. Those who know me well expressed their surprise! Happily, it was an incredible, transformative experience — not only for audience members who left the space with desires to find and touch the things that connect them to loved ones from their past — but for myself. I feel at peace in my house. I feel at peace about leaving my house.

Plunge received rave reviews from Bmore Art, The Bad Oracle, and Theatre Bloom, among others.