Shikeith creates an experimental opera that tangles history, myth, and biography into an epic story of metamorphoses, using the elemental nature of the beach––the ocean, the ebb and flow of the tide, and the never-ending sand––to explore transformation in all its forms.
The aesthetic and staging of Shikeith’s first major performance is inspired by his artistic contemplations on hauntology, a concept referring to the return or persistence of elements from the past along with African-American histories attached to the color blue.
"The spill is a representation of this boundless way of being that, in operating in this society, a lot of queer people are unable to be.”
Shikeith: notes towards becoming a spill is supported by Toby Devan Lewis, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Heinz Endowment.
Special thanks to the Rockaway Hotel for hosting Shikeith and performers for a 10-day residency leading up the opening of notes towards becoming a spill.
musical director & composer/arranger Rashad McPherson
choreographer Morgan Bobrow-Williams
costumes Carlos Soto
costume co-ordinator & fabrication Victoria Bek
producer Bob Kalas
stage manager Cassie Fraser
sound Jim Toth, Jupiter Sound
staging Revamp RBNY
dancers Maxi Hawkeye Canion, Angel Glasby, Kehari Huthcinson, Alemu Lattanzio, Raymond Pinto
altos Tradonia Baker, Amanda Barise, Nia Drummond, Jazmin McCray, Kareda Robinson, Monet Ulerio / sopranos DaChelle Antoine, Nakia Cook, Crystal Fauntleroy, Tyneshia Hill, Keeara Powell, Brianna Turner / tenors Daniel King, Johnny Lowe, Darnell Pittman, Michael Reid, Brian Wright
keyboard Evan Ferguson
bass guitar and programming DeVaughn Denegall
drum synth/programming Jonny Fung
curated by Job Piston, Performa Associate Curator at Large
managing director & executive producer Esa Nickle
senoir producer & manager of media initiatives Sasha Okshteyn
producer Bob Kalas
Performa 2021 Biennial Fellow Nectar Knuckles
photographs Shikeith, Paula Court, Walter Wlodarczyk