"A combination of pop concert and autobiographical lament for the human condition, We're Gonna Die's forthright acknowledgment that life can be a rough business is bracing, funny, and, yes, consoling.Young Jean Lee is, hands down, the most adventurous downtown playwright of her generation." -Charles Isherwood, The New York Times
"One of the most inexplicably pleasurable experiences of my theatergoing life . . . A goofily grim and oddly uplifting meditation by one of the most restlessly experimental--and wildly entertaining--writer-directors working in the theater today." - Adam Green, Vogue“WE’RE GONNA DIE was originally produced by Caleb Hammons for Playwrights Inc., WE’RE GONNA DIE was originally produced by Caleb Hammons for Playwrights Inc., in association association with Young Jean Lee’s Theater Company WE’RE GONNA DIE premiered in April 2011 at Joe’s Pub in New York, NY WE’RE GONNA DIE was developed in part through a residency at the National Theatre Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center” |
Kiki’s Hot Juicy American Pie is a bold, joyous declaration that rewrites the script on shame, sex, and the beautiful act of being our authentic, queer selves in a world that’s uncomfortable with our truth. A cabaret styled concert where intimacy, sensuality, and the unapologetic celebration of every swerve, curve, and quirk of the human body take center stage.
In a culture that whispers in shame about sex, where body dysmorphia and comparison culture can sometimes steal our peace, this concert flips the narrative. From sexual awakenings to reveling in the magic of self-love, this concert will explore what it means to feel at home in our own skin. Serving as a remount of part two of their Kiki Series, Kimo and his band want to celebrate the summer with you with a big sexy concert! This show also falls on the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York where our community fought for our voices to be heard. While we’ve come a long way in the 50+ years and have a lot to celebrate, we still have a lot to fight for. We invite you to sing along, walk in with palms facing up, and most importantly, treat yourself with a little more kindness today. |
A fashion performance brand launch by Josh Sin, directed by Rebby Yuer Foster. Words by Ken Yoshikawa. Featuring Philip Coulon, Sizheng Song, Marcel Johansen, Mari, Kayla Hanson, & Deniz Aydemir.
Doors open 7pm. Performance at 7:30pm. SATIRE is a lifestyle brand that creates innovative experiences for all five human senses: touch, sight, hearing, smell, and taste. On July 12th, 2024, Satire will unveil its latest innovations and brand experience through a keynote speech by its CEO and founder, a glimpse into the near possible future, and an anti-fashion fashion show. |
Solo plays by Orlando Reyes Cabrera & Pedro Dominguez. Directed by Anthony Shepard & Kamryn Fall.
Doors open 7pm. Performance at 7:30pm Fuerza written by Orlando Reyes Cabrera is about trying to navigate a new chapter of life in a new environment with circumstances and ideals they grew up with. Orlando attempts to illustrate their ancestors' experience - existing with an idea of a larger than life world. A world filled with opportunity. A world that at first glance is brushed with bright colors, wonder and rays of sun. Then quickly having to navigate hopelessness and resilience in the “real world” once they realize that everything is not what it seems. thought-o-vision: In the midst of the night, Ped was just playing video games until they found out they're gonna die in the morning! Now it's up to a body possessing alien with an eye condition to help them in their final moments to find peace in their short but funny life. Created during their acting apprenticeship at the Portland Playhouse in 2020, this is Pedro's attempt to tackle their mortality and their regular spiral inducing thoughts in their "hehe/haha"' MO, trying to show some levity of the dark thoughts we all have. |
Last but certainly not least in our Nothing Left to Lose festival, we are throwing a birthday party on Saturday, July 20th from 7-10pm! Come celebrate with us as Shaking the Tree turns 21 and can finally gamble at casinos, adopt a child, book a hotel room, drink at Disney, rent a car - the possibilities are endless! This is a FREE community event that is just as much about you as it is our theatre. Your support over the years has been immeasurably appreciated. Whether you’ve worked at our theatre in a creative capacity or are part of the incredible audience filling our seats with butts, we love you and want to party with you!
We’ll be featuring live music by Lake whose original compositions you heard in our past productions Model Minority, In a Different Reality She’s Clawing at the Walls, and We Wrote This with You In Mind. Sammy Rat Rios, who you saw in our most recent production The Brother and the Bird, will be performing a live solo set interspersed with videos from some of our favorite moments of past plays, and we'll reveal our new logo design. And of course we can’t finish the night with anything but a dance party DJ set by Calm Radio. |
A reading of a play by Josie Seid, featuring S. Renee Mitchell, Jasmine Cottrell, Lauren Steele, Gerrin Mitchell, & Jonathan Cullen.
A contemporary retelling of the Greek tragedy Hecuba is told from an African American perspective, integrating modern themes and concepts, A principal, haunted by a school shooting, uncovers a series of unthinkable crimes and conspiracies… and is pushed toward taking a shocking act of revenge. |
A live video / dance installation by Skye Ritcher, featuring a live movement performance by Skye Ritcher, Sara Parker, & Nick Jurica.
Sarno is a multichannel video installation featuring a live dance performance that explores the interplay between projected video and live choreography, highlighting the conversation between the two mediums. The choreography serves as a meditation on the parallel influences exerted by the human brain and digital media on shaping our perception of reality. The dancers engage in a durational practice of continuous movement in which they reach exhaustion repeatedly, before eventually disintegrating into the movement itself. Sarno raises the question of which entity, the brain or the screen, offers a more potent distortion of reality. The performance does not have the objective of determining which lens, whether it be the human brain or the screen, possesses a more powerful capacity to distort reality. Instead, it aims to spark contemplation and dialogue about the complex relationship between human cognition and digital media, highlighting how both can shape our understanding of the world in profound and sometimes unexpected ways. The curiosity in the brain's power over perception and the screen's similar ability to distort it arise from the artist's 10 year bout with chronic pain that brought an end to their professional dance career and their subsequent engagement with lens based media. Recently published research into the field of chronic pain and psychosomatic syndromes have made clear the connection between the neural pathways in the body and the brain's ability to signal pain long after the acute pathology has left the body. The artist invites the audience to suspend their surety of the stimuli that they perceive during the performance and to contemplate the implications of shunning what we think might be real. |
A performance art piece by Marcel Mawulorm Johansen, with live music by Quomni.
"Growing up in Ghana, rites of passage were commonplace - we’d learn about them in school but i’d rarely encounter them in real life. A good portion of the christian community, including many close to me found many of the old cultural practices and rituals to be idolatry... demonic. Consequently, I believed the same and viewed them with fear: but on the inside, I was drawn to them still. Having lived away from home over 7 years, I find that much of me is still very Ghanaian — many of those parts not seeing the light of day often, if ever. This performance invokes different parts of me in one sitting, with witnesses present. Rites of passage across various cultures serve as markers of growth and transition. I invite you to bear witness to this ritual, a new age culture quilt from a Ghanaian wanderer, American resident, symbolizing transcendence of values, beliefs, and “selves” that no longer serve. I invite you to reflect on your own rites of passage and ponder their role in your growth as a person. To shed old skin, emerging yet another version of yourself, ready to be marked anew by life in different ways. What would you have people watch you do as a symbol of transition? ... What would be your ritual?" |
Live music & visuals by VoxOwl: Matthew Gailey, & THEY GAMBLE: Michael Gamble & Devin Febbroriello
VoxOwl is a live looping act, incorporating mixed reality and real instruments, lofi beats and soulful vocals, for a truly unique musical and visual experience. The “Gold Rush" by THEY GAMBLE is an A/V performance featuring audio reactive projections and improvisations by interdisciplinary performance artists THEY GAMBLE. Gold Rush is an exploration of the symbolic, literal, and figurative nature of Gold. How is it that one precious metal atomic number 79 has held such a firm position of power for so long? What is the point of gold? Why does it have value at all? During our performance we will utilize a midi controller to synthesize the electromagnetic forces of a gold nugget into an audio visual display, and interact with sound to create an improvised sonic and visual landscape. The live time based audio reactive processing will be presented in tandem with a series of found/original video footage, spoken word, and sound effects collected through our research about Gold. |