The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics Residency at

Davis Performing Arts Center

April 29-May 4:

Devine Theater

A biennial festival of performances, panels, and workshops hosted on campus at The Davis Center.

Theater & Performance Studies Program

Note from Artistic director

Put your hands up for our 23-24 season of “Together We Go-Go”! This year, the Theater and Performance Studies Program and Black Theater Ensemble co-present a season at the Davis Performing Arts Center, celebrating community, collaboration, and DC’s official music, go-go.

According to Professor Soyica Colbert: “Go-go is a cultural phenomenon indigenous to Washington D.C. Primarily associated with funk music of the 1970s and the rise of hip hop during the period, go-go, like hip hop, names a set of cultural practices that include music and dance. It also includes transforming a space into a culturally specific place.”

Inspired by go-go’s unstoppable rhythm, energy, and resilience, we will be bringing you an array of performances that boldly tell stories, transform spaces, and empower all humans to voice their existence. We welcome exciting collaborators throughout the season as well: go-go artist and educator Charles “Shorty Corleone” Garris (Wind Me Up Maria! 2016) returns to the Davis Center for Making a Go-go Band, a one-ofa-kind musical-meets-gameshow; in Hurricane Diane, directed by Professor Michael T. Williams, we will be working with the LGBTQ Resource Center and Department of Classics. Join us for a “Pride Night” for this show!

Our two thesis productions combine the personal, historical, and political. Camila Madero’s new play Our Dirty War tells the story of her father Robert (played by Camila herself), who escaped Argentina’s dictatorship in the 1970s. Shakeer Hood takes you on a journey of self-discovery through history of black queer identity in When the Two Hands Meet.

In addition to the four mainstage shows above, we will be presenting an array of interdisciplinary and partner events: Black Theater Ensemble will host their signature coffeehouse events once a month (yes we will serve coffee and have an open mic!); Gypsy and the Bully Door, presented by Racial Justice Initiative, is a workshop production of a go-go inspired new musical by Nina Angela Mercer; Music program hosts “Afrofuturist folklorist” Jake Blount in residency, with a concert, master classes, and a performance-lecture; Asian Studies Program (SFS) will bring acclaimed scholar-artist/ drag queen Kareem Khubchandani in Lessons in Drag, w/ LaWhore Vagistan in the spring. Join us, also, for the Music Week and Dance Concerts each semester.

So don’t mute your talent, make some noise, take up some space! We will be shaking up cutting-edge performances all year long. As in go-go, the audience completes the performance experience. For ways to participate on stage or backstage, scan the QR code on the back of this brochure to check out our website!

Our Dirty War

Written by Camila Madero

October 25, 27, 28-8pm

October 29-2pm

Devine Theater

Our Dirty War is a deeply intimate exploration of the Argentinian community in the 1970s, when thousands disappeared under the regime of a brutal dictatorship. Through dialogues with her father, Robert Madero, the playwright reimagines the tales and characters of the past. A poignant tribute to her father’s strength, the play celebrates the transformative power of storytelling to heal.

When Two Hands Meet

Created by Shakeer Hood

March 20-8pm

March 21,22-6pm & 8pm

March 23-2pm & 8pm

Gonda Theater

Follow the protagonist, a young, black, and queer individual, who must glean through history to find truth, identity, community, and purpose. Through spoken word, music, and dance staged in found spaces in the Davis Center and beyond, the audience is invited on a journey of self-discovery, joy and freedom.

TPST x Black theatre Ensemble Coffeehouses

Aug 25, Oct 30, Dec 7, Feb 11, Mar 26, May 2 Davis Performing Arts Center Lobby

BTE will host several coffeehouses throughout the year in the Davis Center lobby. Students from a variety of backgrounds can come together to showcase their poetic, musical, or written talents.

Established in 1979, Georgetown University’s Black Theatre Ensemble (BTE) is dedicated to producing dramatic works that celebrate and enrich the Black American cultural heritage and the cultural heritages of all minority communities, expanding and challenging the discourse on the Black experience. Through the arts, BTE strives to provoke substantive dialogue, promote cross-cultural exchange, and engage the community.

Making a Go-Go Band

November 8-11-8pm

November 12-2pm

November 15-18-8pm

Gonda Theater

Aspiring go-go musicians from DC public schools spend a semester at the Davis Center, working with Georgetown Students to create a new, one-ofa-kind theatrical performance. Part concert, part storytelling, part teach-in, part documentary and part interactive game show, this production will give you a glimpse into the history of go-go, and teach you a quick lesson on how to participate at a go-go event. Each performance also includes an impromptu jam session with musicians from around the world.

Hurricane Diane

Written by Madeleine George

Directed by Michael T. Williams

April 11-13-8pm

April 14-2pm

April 17-20-8pm

Devine Studio Theater

Meet Diane, a butch gardener from Vermont with a down-to-earth swagger that belies her true celestial identity—the Greek god Dionysus. She’s determined to manifest a world where every yard is a permaculture, restored to its natural state and capable of sustaining itself. Where better to gather mortal followers in her environmental battle than with four housewives in a suburban New Jersey cul-de-sac? Part Greek comedy, part lesbian pulp fiction, part ecological thriller, Pulitzer Prize finalist Madeleine George hilariously eviscerates the blind eye we all turn to climate change. Bacchanalian catharsis awaits us, even in our own backyards.