Open Call: Kinetic Light

AUG 25 – 27, 2022
An immersive contemporary aerial dance experience of sound, light, and movement exploring the race, gender, and disability stories of barbed wire

About this commission

Created and performed by disability arts ensemble Kinetic Light, Wired is an immersive contemporary aerial dance experience of sound, light, and movement that traces the fine line between “us” and “them” while exploring the gender, race, and disability stories of barbed wire.

Dancers defy gravity as the work questions and ruminates on power, belonging, abolition and deinstitutionalization, sexuality, art, community, and connection —embodying disability as creative and cultural force.

Kinetic Light artists Alice Sheppard, Jerron Herman, and Laurel Lawson perform immersed in Michael Maag’s compelling lighting, projection, and production design. Artist Josephine Shokrian is scenic and prop designer and composers Ailís Ní Ríain and LeahAnn ‘Lafemmebear’ Mitchell create discrete original scores for the work. Audio description artists for Wired include Shannon Finnegan, Cheryl Green, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Dylan Keefe, Andy Slater, and Nathan Geering and Mo Pickering-Symes (both using The Rationale Method).

Content Advisory

Wired honors the race, gender, and disability histories of barbed wire in America. At times, the performance includes depictions of violence and disability/race injustice.

The audio description of this program contains references to sexual violence, medical trauma, disability-based and racial injustice, and other potentially sensitive topics.

Artists

Three dancers face each other onstage. Jerron, a dark-skinned Black man with blonde hair, stands boldly facing the others, his body tense with energy. His tight pants and leather top shimmer. His fist flies overhead as silver barbed wire cascades from head to feet. Alice and Laurel are stacked and lean in toward Jerron with concentrated expressions. Alice, a multiracial Black woman with coffee-colored skin and short curly hair, hovers in the air. Laurel, a white woman with cropped hair, balances beneath her; she grips Alice's wheels while tilting on one wheel. Photo Robbie Sweeny/Kinetic Light.
Photo: Robbie Sweeny/Kinetic Light.
Kinetic Light
Kinetic Light

Kinetic Light (selected 2018) is an internationally recognized disability arts ensemble. Working in the disciplines of art, technology, design, and dance, Kinetic Light creates, performs, and teaches at the nexus of access, queerness, disability, dance, and race.

Kinetic Light is led by disabled artists; disabled artists create, design, and perform the work. The company’s work speaks to and emerges from disability aesthetics and disability culture, and it is connected to the rich traditions and exciting contemporary conversations of disabled artists in all artistic fields.

In KL’s work disability is not a deficit, it is a powerful, intersectional creative force that is essential to artistry. Access is integral to their art and creative process.

Founded in 2016 under the direction and artistic leadership of Alice Sheppard, Kinetic Light artists include Laurel Lawson, Michael Maag, and Jerron Herman. The performing company is supported by a talented team of administration and production professionals who work behind the scenes and a roster of additional artists join to contribute on a project basis.

Production Credits

Conception and Direction by Alice Sheppard
Choreographed in collaboration by Jerron Herman, Laurel Lawson, Alice Sheppard
Lighting, Projection, Scenic, and Production Design by Michael Maag
Scenic and Prop Design by Josephine Shokrian
Music by LeahAnn ‘Lafemmebear’ Mitchell and Ailis Ni Riain
Costume and Makeup Design by Laurel Lawson, with jumpsuit fabrication by Timberlake Studios

Access Artists
Audio Description by Shannon Finnegan, Cheryl Green, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, and Nathan Geering, Shankojam, and Mo Pickering-Symes, all using The Rationale Method
Sound Design by Dylan Keefe and Andy Slater

Shed Production Team

Itohan Edoloyi, Lighting Design Coordinator
DJ Potts, Audio Design Coordinator
You-Shin Chen, Scenic Design Coordinator
Josh Galitzer, Head Carpenter
Maytté Martinez and Stuart Burgess, Head Electricians
Seth Haling, Head Audio
Micah Zucker, Head Video
Caren Celine Morris, Stage Coordinator

The Story of this commission

Kinetic Light originally joined the Shed family of artists with the first iteration of Open Call, selected by our reviewers and panelists in 2018. When The Shed closed temporarily to help stop the spread of Covid-19, their scheduled performance was postponed. They will now present their work as part of the second iteration of Open Call artists in 2022.

Accessibility

Access includes:

  • Rich spatial audio via Kinetic Light’s Audimance app
  • ASL interpretation before and after the performance (no spoken word in Wired)
  • Expanded accessible seating, accessible and all gender restrooms
  • Tactile exhibit outside the theater
  • Quiet spaces
  • Audience exit and entry welcome during performance
  • Haptic soundtrack interpretation
  • Stim kits
  • Wired does not contain strobe lighting effects
  • Learn more about what to expect during your visit.

Seating

Each performance includes accessible seating. Please let our ushers know if you are staying in a wheelchair for a performance or using a theater seat.

Assistive Listening

Assistive listening is available at The Shed via the free Listen Everywhere app on your personal device. To find directions on how to download the app, visit the Accessibility page.

Devices are available for you to borrow at the ticketing desk if you do not want to use your own smartphone.

The Shed offers free Wi-Fi to facilitate your use of Listen Everywhere. Connect to the network TheShedFreeWiFi.

Purchasing Tickets

The Shed’s online ticketing system includes the option to submit accommodation requests beyond the access points detailed here.

Contact Us

For questions or other requests, visit the Accessibility page, email accessibility@theshed.org, or call (646) 455-3494.

Details

  • Running time: Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes, with one 20-minute intermission
  • Photography of any kind is not permitted during the performance

Location

This event takes place in The Griffin Theater.

What to Expect

Arriving at The Shed

Welcome!

Thank you for planning a visit to The Shed. We’re looking forward to welcoming you for Open Call. You are welcome to enter the building through one of three different entrances. These are located off of The Shed’s Plaza, at 545 West 30th Street, or on the Hudson Yards Public Square.

Arriving by Public Transportation

The closest accessible subway station is the 34 St–Hudson Yards/7 train station. It’s the final stop on the 7 subway line in Manhattan arriving from the east side and Queens.

The bus lines with stops closest to The Shed include the M11 along 10th Avenue, the M12 along 11th Avenue, and the M34 SBS, which provides select bus service to Hudson Yards along 34th Street.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority operates the Access-A-Ride program as a service for people with disabilities. Please visit the MTA’s Access-A-Ride webpage for more information.

Arriving by Car

This entrance provides an accessible passenger loading zone allowing for automobile pick-up and drop-off access to the building.

There are two parking garages in close proximity to The Shed on West 30th Street between 10th and 11th Avenues. One is on the north side of the block, beneath Hudson Yards. An additional garage is located across the street from The Shed at 552 West 30th Street.

Tickets

Tickets to Open Call will be checked by a staff member at the entrance to the theater or performance space, once you are inside. You should have received your tickets in an email. You can find them by searching for the address tickets@theshed.org.

Masks and Vaccination

Currently, visitors must wear a properly fitting mask covering their nose and mouth at all times while in The Shed, except when dining or drinking at Cedric’s, a bar in the lobby. Please noteL proof of vaccination is required for Yo-Yo Lin’s performances (July 8 – 9) and Kinetic Light’s performances (August 25 – 27).

Additional Information

For additional information about accessibility at The Shed, visit our Accessibility page. For any additional access needs or requests, please email accessibility@theshed.org or call (646) 455-3494.

Entering Through The Plaza

Outside The Shed

The Plaza is adjacent to the High Line, on the same level as the Hudson Yards Public Square and the 34 St–Hudson Yards/7 train subway station, which is serviced by an elevator.

On Friday and Saturday evenings from 5 pm to sunset, The Shed’s Plaza will be lively, with visitors enjoying DJs, dance, and music performances outside. There will be wooden structures covered in soft, recycled rubber that you can sit or lounge on to rest or enjoy the evening.

Entering the Building

The Plaza entrance at the southwest corner of the building is staffed by a friendly member of our Visitor Experience team who will greet you. They’ll be wearing a black t-shirt and ID badge on a purple lanyard. At this entrance, there are two glass doors that open outward. The floor inside the building is level with The Plaza as you enter.

Escalators and Elevators

Once inside, the building feels airy with high ceilings and large windows along the escalator bank a short distance down the hall from the entrance. Immediately on your left after entering will be an elevator if you would prefer to ride it to Level 4 for The Overlook or to Level 6 for The Griffin Theater. The escalators and elevators both open onto the hallway on each level where you will find the entrances to the performance spaces.

Restrooms

There are restrooms on the floor below in the lobby and on the floors above. The closest accessible and all gender restrooms are on Level 4, up one level.

Entering Through the Hudson Yards Public Square Entrance

Outside The Shed

This entrance is located along Hudson Yards Boulevard. The entrance is marked with The Shed’s name above it in white letters.

Entering the Building

This entrance is equipped with a push button to open the door, with a friendly staff member to greet you as you enter the building. They’ll be wearing a black t-shirt and ID badge on a purple lanyard.

Restrooms

From the entrance doorway, continue straight ahead, past the video screens and staircase , and then turn left. Down a short hallway you will find three restrooms: one with stalls, one with stalls and urinals, and a private, all gender restroom.

Elevator

The staircase leads down into the main 30th Street Lobby. Behind the staircase to the right is an elevator that you can use to reach the lobby or to go up to Level 2 (Gallery), 4 (The Overlook), or 6 (The Griffin Theater).

Open Call performances take place in either the Level 4 Overlook or The Griffin Theater on Level 6.

Entering Through The 30th Street Lobby

Entering

The 30th Street Lobby entrance, between 10th and 11th Avenues, is on the street level beneath the Plaza level (beneath the High Line on West 30th Street). The 30th Street Lobby entrance is equipped with a push button to open the door, with a friendly staff member to greet you as you enter the building. They’ll be wearing a black t-shirt and ID badge on a purple lanyard.

The Bar

Before a performance, the Lobby may be lively. Cedric’s, a bar, is located in the lobby. Friends and visitors may be sharing drinks and snacks while music plays on overhead speakers. When less crowded, Cedric’s offers a calm, cool spot to sit and relax before or after a performance.

Escalators and Elevators

At the back of the lobby, you will find the escalator and elevators to the upper floors. The escalator is directly across from the main lobby doors, behind a transparent glass wall. Two elevators are located at either back corner of the Lobby, on the same wall as the escalator. One to the left and one to the right. The escalators and elevators both take you up to the main hallway on each level where you will find the entrances to the performance spaces.

Open Call performances take place in either the Level 4 Overlook or The Griffin Theater on Level 6.

Restrooms

Accessible restrooms are located in the back corner of the lobby, behind the escalators and adjacent to the bar. These restrooms include one with stalls and one with stalls and urinals. The nearest private, all gender restroom is located on Level 4.

Entering The Griffin Theater

Once you’re on Level 6, a staff member will be standing outside the performance space to greet you and check tickets. If you have any questions, there will be a solution station with another staff member to help you.

Once inside the theater, seating for performances is general admission, so you can choose from any available spot. The seats have armrests and thick cushions, and some are folding chairs that flip up as you stand up from them. If you would like help in finding a seat, a staff member at the entrance can guide you. If you would like to remain in a wheelchair during the performance, please let a staff member know. For ASL interpretation, a staff member will be available to direct you to a reserved section of seats close to the interpreter.

The nearest restrooms are located on this floor, to your right as you exit the theater. Follow the hallway away from the escalator landing. You will find one restroom with stalls and one with stalls and urinals, as well as a private, all gender restroom.

This Production

Seating

Expanded accessible seating is available for this performance and some seating areas will be prioritized for mobility, ASL, and haptic access. Access doulas and ushers will be available to support you in navigating the space and accessing what you desire.

ASL

ASL will be present in the lobby before, during, and after the show. The opening curtain speech will be translated; there will not be music interpretation during the show.

Audio Description

Audio description for Wired is channeled through Kinetic Light’s Audimance web app. For more information about Audimance, its availability, and its content for Wired, please find the Wired Accessibility Guide below.

NOTE: Audimance works best with wired headphones (instead of wireless). Please plan to arrive 45 minutes early for app orientation and installation.

During the Performance

During the show, please know that some guests may be using their mobile device for accessibility purposes. Guests may exit the theater as desired. Upon exiting, you will be greeted by an usher who can guide you to a bathroom, a quiet space, or someplace else. The ushers will help you return once you are ready.

For more detailed and thorough information about what to expect during your visit for Kinetic Light’s Wired, please consult the resources linked below. For any additional access needs or requests, please email accessibility@theshed.org or call (646) 455-3494.

Wired Accessibility Guide
Wired Content Outline and Summary (PDF)
Wired Moments Guide: for lighting, sound, and flight (PDF)

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SUMMER 2024
New art for New York

Thank you to our partners

The Lead Sponsor of Open Call is
Support for Open Call is generously provided by

Additional support for Open Call is provided by Warner Bros. Discovery 150, The Wescustogo Foundation, and Jody and John Arnhold | Arnhold Foundation.

The creation of new work at The Shed is generously supported by the Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Commissioning Fund and the Shed Commissioners. Major support for live productions at The Shed is provided by the Charina Endowment Fund, with additional support from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.