WASTELANDIA
Part One of the 3 RITES Trilogy
"A world constructed of recycled materials that invites the audience to engage in a multi-layered visual and immersive experience. Through craft-making, visual art, theater, and dance, the audience is taken on an interactive journey to witness a land that can be sculpted, destroyed, and rebuilt again… with more plastic." - Touissant Jeanlouis, Dance Enthusiast
DELIRIOUS Dances, The Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, & Creative Producer Lai-Lin Robinson
presents the World Premiere of
WASTELANDIA
Part One of the 3 RITES Trilogy
September 19-28, 2025
Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art
Friday & Saturday September 19, 20, 26, 27 at 6pm Creative Reuse Workshop & 7pm Performance
Sunday September 21, 28 at 2pm Creative Reuse Workshop & 3pm Performance
Snug Harbor Cultural Center, 1000 Richmond Terrace, Staten Island, NY 10301
Tickets: $20 students/seniors, $30 general, $50 supporters, $75 rockstars
Purchase Tickets in Advance on-line here
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Concept & Direction: Edisa Weeks
Choreography: Edisa Weeks in collaboration with the performers
Performers:
EmmaGrace Skove-Epes, Javon "Ja'Moon" Jones, J’nae Simmons, Mars Garcia, Uilalani Marx
Guest Artists:
Emil Troy, Idea Reid, Keb Barshack
Mural & Green Award Honorees:
Debbie-Ann Paige, Dorcas Meyers, Heather Butts, Jasi Robinson, Kelly Vilar,
Lori Love Medina, Petula Gay
Costume Design:
Sarita Fellows & Brittani Beresford
Lighting Design:
Tim Cryan
Set Design:
You-Shin Chen
Interactive Technology:
Enddle
Community Engagement Coordinator:
Maya Smith-Gilbert
Production Director:
Violet Asmara Tafari
Stage Manager:
Emily Rondon
work-in-process showing presented by 651 ARTS Sept. 2023
COMMUNITY PARTNERS SEPTEMBER 2023
Thursday September 14, 2023
Bead making workshop from plastic straws and zippers
with Pamela Issac, Materials for the Arts
Friday September 15, 2023
Buen Vivir Discussion with John Gersham
Saturday and Sunday September 16 & 17, 2023
Musical Instrument making workshop from found objects
with Skip LaPlante, Materials for the Arts
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Materials for the Arts is New York City’s premiere municipal Creative Reuse arts & education center.
MFTA aims to build relationships with the New York City arts, culture and educational communities by
teaching the value of Creative Reuse and supplying endless donated materials for art making. The goal is to
make a larger impact on the global carbon footprint through sustainability practice in creativity.
Thursday September 14, 2023
Bead making workshop from plastic straws and zippers
with Pamela Issac, Materials for the Arts
Friday September 15, 2023
Buen Vivir Discussion with John Gersham
Saturday and Sunday September 16 & 17, 2023
Musical Instrument making workshop from found objects
with Skip LaPlante, Materials for the Arts
*
Materials for the Arts is New York City’s premiere municipal Creative Reuse arts & education center.
MFTA aims to build relationships with the New York City arts, culture and educational communities by
teaching the value of Creative Reuse and supplying endless donated materials for art making. The goal is to
make a larger impact on the global carbon footprint through sustainability practice in creativity.
photos: Alex Bershaw, Julie Lemberger, mirembe
We have not inherited the earth from our parents, we are borrowing it from our children.”
- Wendell Berry, farmer, poet, author, enviornmentalist
- Wendell Berry, farmer, poet, author, enviornmentalist
WASTELANDIA (3 RITES: Life) is a mash-up between a DIY Haunted house, Willy Wonka’s Chocolate factory, and a dance performance. It emphasizes responsible stewardship of nature and questions our dependency on fossil fuels. The rite begins in The Greenroom, which is an interactive educational space where the audience can:
- Participate in creative reuse workshops such as making beads out of plastic straws or musical instruments out of discarded objects
- Color in a chalk mural depicting images and quotes by Black, Hispanic and Indigenous environmental activists
- Listen and/or participate in a discussion about the Buen Vivir movement, which advocates for a shift in values, where a nation’s success is not determined by corporations and the GDP. Instead, what determines a nation’s success is the well-being of its citizens - how many people have access to health care, education, food, affordable housing, and are living above the poverty line. Buen Vivir redefines values, and emphasizes that humans are not owners of the earth and its resources, instead we are stewards of the earth.
REVIEW
Dance Enthusiast, DAY IN THE LIFE OF DANCE: 651 Arts Presents Delirious Dances/Edisa Weeks
“3 RITES: LIFE” (Work in Progress) link
VIDEO EXCERPTS FROM Workshop showing
CREDITS & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
WASTELANDIA / 3 RITES: Life
Concept: Edisa Weeks
Choreography: Edisa Weeks in collaboration with the performers
Performers: Mars Garcia, Uilalani Marx, Devin Oshiro, Ashley Pierre-Louis, J’nae Simmons, EmmaGrace Skove-Epes
Text: Edisa Weeks
Sound Environment: LaFrae Sci
Lighting Design: Tim Cryan
Set Design: You-Shin Chen & Edisa Weeks
Creative Advisor: James Scruggs
Creative Producer: Marýa Wethers
Community Engagement Coordinator: Rebecca Fitton (2017-2021), Maya Simone Z. (2021 – 2023)
Production Director: Violet Asmara Tafari
Illustration: Leo Jimenez
Many Thanks to: Jake Bone, Angel Chinn, and Johnnie Mercer who contributed to the making of the life rite.
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3 RITES: Life is a National Performance Network/Visual Artists Network (NPN/VAN) Creation & Development Fund Project co-commissioned by 651 ARTS, Mount Tremper Arts, RestorationART, Kelly Strayhorn Theater, DancePlace and NPN/VAN. 3 RITES is made possible in part through funding from the Brooklyn Arts Council; Creative Capital; Durst Organization; Harkness Foundation for Dance; The New England Foundation for the Arts, National Dance Project which is generously supported with lead funding from the Doris Duke Foundation and the Mellon Foundation; New Music USA; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; a PSC-CUNY Award, jointly funded by The Professional Staff Congress and The City University of New York; The Puffin Foundation, as well as through the sponsorship of The Field; and the generosity of individuals.
The Life rite was developed through creative residencies with Chashama Space to Create; ChoreoQuest at RestorationART - Billie Holiday Theater; a remote residency with the Experimental Media and Performance Arts Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Materials for the Arts; New York State Dance Force residencies at Topaz Arts and at Hobart and William Smith Colleges; and Snug Harbor Cultural Center.
WASTELANDIA / 3 RITES: Life
Concept: Edisa Weeks
Choreography: Edisa Weeks in collaboration with the performers
Performers: Mars Garcia, Uilalani Marx, Devin Oshiro, Ashley Pierre-Louis, J’nae Simmons, EmmaGrace Skove-Epes
Text: Edisa Weeks
Sound Environment: LaFrae Sci
Lighting Design: Tim Cryan
Set Design: You-Shin Chen & Edisa Weeks
Creative Advisor: James Scruggs
Creative Producer: Marýa Wethers
Community Engagement Coordinator: Rebecca Fitton (2017-2021), Maya Simone Z. (2021 – 2023)
Production Director: Violet Asmara Tafari
Illustration: Leo Jimenez
Many Thanks to: Jake Bone, Angel Chinn, and Johnnie Mercer who contributed to the making of the life rite.
*
3 RITES: Life is a National Performance Network/Visual Artists Network (NPN/VAN) Creation & Development Fund Project co-commissioned by 651 ARTS, Mount Tremper Arts, RestorationART, Kelly Strayhorn Theater, DancePlace and NPN/VAN. 3 RITES is made possible in part through funding from the Brooklyn Arts Council; Creative Capital; Durst Organization; Harkness Foundation for Dance; The New England Foundation for the Arts, National Dance Project which is generously supported with lead funding from the Doris Duke Foundation and the Mellon Foundation; New Music USA; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; a PSC-CUNY Award, jointly funded by The Professional Staff Congress and The City University of New York; The Puffin Foundation, as well as through the sponsorship of The Field; and the generosity of individuals.
The Life rite was developed through creative residencies with Chashama Space to Create; ChoreoQuest at RestorationART - Billie Holiday Theater; a remote residency with the Experimental Media and Performance Arts Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Materials for the Arts; New York State Dance Force residencies at Topaz Arts and at Hobart and William Smith Colleges; and Snug Harbor Cultural Center.