Wilbury Theatre Group and Brown Arts Institute to Present WHO IS THE HOUSEBOY?

Wilbury Theatre Group will present WHO IS THE HOUSEBOY?, a special theatrical presentation to support South African artist William Kentridge and The Centre for the Less Good Idea's residency this semester at Brown Arts Institute (February 23 & 24 at 7:00 pm). Facilitated by Wilbury Theatre Group's Education Programs Manager Mycah Hogan and Artistic Director Josh Short, the performances are inspired by and in conversation with Kentridge's Houseboy, which played Brown's new Lindemann Performing Arts Center on February 9 & 10. The performance features devised performances and original work by Julio Berroa, April Brown, Jose Docen, Marcel A. Mascaró, Don Mays, Sidy Maiga, Mikala Nims, with support and design work by Susanna Koetter, Eli Nixon, Michayla Robertson-Pine, and Judd Schiffman.

Tickets for both performances are free but reservations are strongly encouraged. For registration and more information, visit thewilburygroup.org/houseboy

"We are very excited to continue to grow our collaborations with the Brown Arts Institute through this new work," said Wilbury Theatre Group's Artistic Director Josh Short . "After the success of our collaboration on the multi-season podcast, God Talks to an Agnostic, we are happy to be back creating a piece of theatre that utilizes the many capabilities of the new Lindemann Performing Arts Center. Sharing our experience with site-specific work and engaging with our network of Providence-based artists to explore The Centre for the Less Good Idea's work, respond to their production of Houseboy , and continue to build the future we aim to see represented on stage."

Wilbury's performance will be site-specific, occurring at various locations in and around the new Lindemann Performing Arts Center. Wilbury Education Programs Manager and Lead Facilitator of the devising process Mycah Hogan explains, "As we created this piece in dialogue with Houseboy it was essential to approach this creative endeavor with a sense of artistic ownership, authenticity, and invention. We wanted our artists to bring their unique voice and perspective to the forefront."

The collaborative residency, hosted by Kentridge and Bronwyn Lace, co-founder of The Centre for the Less Good Idea, featured performances of Houseboy , a dramatic work; arts education workshops; post-show conversations in the new Lindemann Performing Arts Center;and continues with a lecture by Kentridge scholar and RISD Professor Leora Maltz-Leca, and No, It Is , a video installation in Cohen Gallery, housed in the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts. Each aspect of the project invites the Brown and Rhode Island communities to join in surfacing, rupturing, and re-reading complex narrative histories and the visual archive for the contemporary moment. In addition to public-facing programming, The Centre will activate its Brown Arts IGNITE Series Artistic Innovators residency as an iterative platform for developing new work and engaging community, anchored in arts research and cross-disciplinary artistry.

About the collaboration, Sophia LaCava-Bohana , BAI's Associate Director of Partnerships and Engagement, says "Brown Arts Institute is honored to be part of the Providence arts ecosystem and to build meaningful partnerships in support of new work developed by Rhode Island artists and organizations like Wilbury Theatre Group. Wilbury's history of engaging with audiences in experimental formats paired with their commitment to exploring new forms of performance with local artists created an exciting opportunity to continue conversations brought forward by Houseboy."

About William Kentridge & The Centre for the Less Good Idea

William Kentridge is a draughtsman, performer, and filmmaker, and is the founder of The Centre for the Less Good Idea. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Kentridge is internationally acclaimed for his drawings, films, theatre, and opera productions. Embracing collaboration and cross-pollination of various media and genres, including performance, film, literature, and more, his work frequently responds to the legacies of colonialism and apartheid, within the context of South Africa's socio-political landscape.

In 2016, William Kentridge and Bronwyn Lace founded The Centre for the Less Good Idea, a space for responsive thinking through experimental, collaborative, and cross-disciplinary art practices, based in Maboneng, Johannesburg. The Centre has quickly gathered momentum and by 2022 has become a formative space for arts projects in South Africa and beyond. Between 2016 and 2022 over 400 individual performances, films, and installations have been created and shown at The Centre and more than 700 artists of all disciplines have worked on projects at The Centre.

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