JACK & is a comedy of errors structured on social codes and trainings, from prison reentry programs to African American debutante balls. Conceived and directed by Kaneza Schaal, a veteran Elevator Repair Service and The Wooster Group performer, the performance interweaves such diverse influences as the aspirational class stories found in 1950s sitcoms, real and imagined entering-society ceremonies, and tigers in Harlem to build a portrait of a dream interrupted and resumed. In the performance, "Jack" returns home from working the night shift at an industrial bakery to make a cake for his wife, "Jill." He ends up whirling through a dance that is part dream, part ritual of reentry into his own internal life. Exploring markers of transition and transformation, and the liminal ritual spaces that bridge worlds, JACK & considers the measureless damages of being in prison—not the amount of time one has served but the amount of one’s dreaming that is given to the state.

Starring Cornell Alston, a long-time member of Rehabilitation Through the Arts, JACK & features a set designed by artist Christopher Myers, which transforms from comedy club to kitchen to ballroom stage. Live music by musician and composer Rucyl Frison animates and contours the three-act story.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/18/theater/jack-with-the-cotillion-review.html

 

JACK & toured nationally from 2018-2019:

New York Live Arts, New York

Walker Arts Center Out There Festival, Minneapolis

REDCAT, Los Angeles

BAM Next Wave Festival, Brooklyn

TBA Festival: PICA (Portland Institute of Contemporary Art) Portland

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

On the Boards, Seattle

Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati