
PREMIERING THIS FALL
Requiem for a Stranger




Regional Premiere
October 14-16
at New Orleans' Contemporary Arts Center
Requiem for a Stranger is an expansive work of music and movement-theater created by physical theater company Vagabond Inventions in collaboration with Singer-Composer Renee Benson. This episodic, ensemble-devised project explores the heartspace of grief - an emotion that mainstream American culture habitually avoids, but which currently overwhelms our daily life.
​
Although initially conceived pre-pandemic, this timely project has evolved to respond to the Covid-19 crisis. Drawing inspiration from the poetry of adrienne maree brown, Nikki Giovanni, Rainer Maria Rilke, and the intimate experiences of the creators, Requiem presents a journey of dynamic movement, original sound, live music, and a kinetic set by Jeff Becker. In an absurd domestic netherworld, figures flow through overlapping crises, contradictory memories, the paradise of each mundane moment, and the language of the ancestral body: an epic love song for the stage.
​
​
WORK SAMPLE, 2020:
In residence at New Orleans' Contemporary Arts Center
CREATIVE TEAM
Co-Conception: Renee Benson and Jennifer Sargent
Performed by: Renee Benson, Jessi Donley, Melanie Greene, and Jennifer Sargent
Directed by: Jennifer Sargent
Music/ Sound Composed by: Renee Benson
Devising Dramaturg: Madison Krekel
Anti-colonial Dramaturg: Alaina Comeaux
Physical Dramaturg: Penelope McCourty
Set Designed by: Jeff Becker
Costumes by: AYA Designs Global
Devised by: Tricia Anderson, Jeff Becker, Renee Benson, Grace Booth, Jessi Donley, Melanie Greene, Jalisa Roberts, Jennifer Sargent, Shannon Stewart, and Mahalia Abéo Tibbs with early trainings by Donna Costello



