down&out

down&out is a new performance series about feeling bad at the club. How do we hold despair, conflict, disconnection, disappointment, panic, and ennui in a space where we’re meant to be euphoric and dissociative? If the dancefloor can't be an escape from our personal, social, and political realities, can it still be a release? What happens when you can’t leave your problems at the door? They follow you inside and dance (and fuck) with you. Written by Obie-winning playwright Ife Olujobi, directed by Garrett Allen, performed by a rotating cast of actors and club kids alike, and live-scored by a professional DJ, down&out aims to bridge the gap between nightlife and the capital-T Theatre by exploring the kaleidoscopic and spontaneous ways we perform for and with each other on a night out.

Each version of down&out has a theme, and volume two is inspired by overlapping crises and their aftershocks. Every day we are weighted down by myriad social and political emergencies on our phones and in the world around us: genocide, ICE raids, assasinations, deportations. What happens when these overwhelming issues collide with the more routine personal dramas we might encounter during a night out? down&out vol. 2: crisis! will use theatrical forms to create an intoxicating blend of the personal, political, and existential, all set to a banging DJ set, that invites our audiences to be present and get comfortable in the uncertainty and mess that characterizes so much of our daily lives.

down&out vol. 2: crisis! will take place at Brooklyn Art Haus as part of Exponential Festival, an experimental theater festival in Brooklyn, NY, on January 28 and 29, 2025. Help us raise the funds we need to pay our artists and collaborators, secure rehearsal space, rent necessary tech, and put on a fab show!