Dael Orlandersmith's SPIRITUS/VIRGIL'S DANCE Begins Previews at Rattlestick Theater

Rattlestick Theater, presented in partnership with Merrimack Repertory Theater, begins previews of playwright Dael Orlandersmith's SPIRITUS/VIRGIL'S DANCE, a soul-stirring examination of middle age and the transformative power of life. Virgil, a Bronx native, befriends a funeral home director whose empathy for Virgil's parents reveals the life-affirming power that accompanies service to those transitioning into the afterlife. 

As part of Rattlestick's commitment to fostering community through artistic dialogues, the theater will host two post-show conversations aimed to further expand on pertinent themes of death and music drawn from the play. 

The first talkback entitled “Thoughts On The End Of Life” will feature professional end of life doulas Brianna L. Hernández, Martha Roth, and Mangda Sengvanhpheng in conversation on Saturday, February 17th. 

Brianna L. Hernández is a Chicana artist, curator, educator, and death doula guided by socially-engaged practices. Her background includes experience working in community organizations, gallery, museum, and higher education settings, and as a consultant with public health researchers. In developing as an artist and creative professional Brianna credits her late mother, Sylvia D. Hernández, as her most significant mentor and inspiration for the creativity, resilience, and compassion she demonstrated throughout her life.

After decades as a midwife providing care to women and families, Martha Roth, shifted her focus to exploring end-of-life midwifery. Her life experiences have informed her belief that the same care, planning and attention paid at the beginning of life is needed at the end of our lives. Thoughtful discussion and compassionate preparation are two elements that might decrease the fear and enhance the connections between those dying and those caring for the dying.

Mangda Sengvanhpheng is an artist, death doula, and the founder of BACII - a platform that focuses on loss and grief while providing services and offerings that renew our engagement to life. Her life and death work is guided by her Laotian last name, which means “the light of the full moon.” Mangda's work has been featured in Vogue, NY Mag's Curbed, Brydie, Chacruna Institute and more.

“Music Lives On,” a post-show conversation and listening session with New York City musicians Javier Arau, Matt Stapleton, and Elliott Sharp will explore the symbiotic relationship between music and death on Wednesday, March 6th. 

BIOS

Javier Arau is the founder and executive director of New York Jazz Academy, a popular New York City music school, leads the Javier Arau Jazz Orchestra, and is the author of several works on music theory and improvisation. A 2024 Grammy-nominee for Grammy Educator of the Year, Arau has been touted as “pioneering” (DownBeat) and has been featured in The New York Times, as a two-time cover artist for Saxophone Journal, and as a recent guest on PRI's Science Friday with Ira Flatow. He has taught at New England Conservatory and Lawrence University and was mentored as a young musician by Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Henderson, and Bob Brookmeyer. Online: javierarau.com.

Elliott Sharp is a composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, theorist, author, and visual artist. His approaches to music have encompassed fractal geometry, chaos theory, and genetic metaphors. Sharp has been awarded the Berlin Prize in Music and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He has been featured in the Darmstadt, Donaueschingen and Shenzhen Tomorrow festivals, New Music Stockholm, the Hessischer Rundfunk Klangbiennale, and the Venice Biennale. His composition Storm of the Eye for violinist Hilary Hahn appeared on her Grammy-winning album In 27 Pieces.  His operas Filiseti Mekidesi premiered at the Ruhr Triennale Bochum in 2018 and Die Grösste Fuge in Bonn 2021 as part of Beethoven@250.

Matt Stapleton, a predominantly self-taught guitarist from upstate New York, is a sought after accompanist for the Irish traditional music scene in New York City where he operates two popular weekly sessions  - Hartley's in Brooklyn and Grace's in Manhattan. He has backed up some of the great traditional musicians from the U.S. and Ireland including Kevin Crawford and Cillian Vallely of Lunasa, Tony DeMarco, Manus Maguire, and Noel Hill to name a few, and has been an artist-in-residence at a number of venues around the country focusing in Irish Traditional Music.

SPIRITUS/VIRGIL'S DANCE is written by Dael Orlandersmith and directed by Neel Keller, with creative contributions from Takeshi Kata (Scenic Designer), Kaye Voyce (Costume Designer), Mary Louise Geiger (Lighting Designer), Lindsay Jones (Original Music & Sound Designer), Nicholas Hussong (Projection Designer), and Martha Donaldson (Production Stage Manager). Performances are set to run from February 1 through March 9 at Rattlestick Theater in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. Tickets are on sale now at https://www.rattlestick.org/spiritus-virgilsdance

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