TO THE SOURCE.
Upstream Performance Collaborative creates vital theatre.
Rejecting norms, championing play, and interrogating truth - to the source.
Upstream Performance Collaborative was founded by award-winning, multidisciplinary artist Angela Bey in 2019.
Our collaborators are talented, tenacious activists - diverse in identity, experience, and point-of-view.
Upstream Performance Collaborative is Global Majority-led and centered, on and off-stage.
Pictured: Angela Bey. Kate Raines Photography
Upstream Performance Collaborative was founded by award-winning, multidisciplinary artist Ang(ela) Bey in 2019.
We go Upstream: against the current and to the source. The magic of live, embodied performance is its ability to reflect, analyze, and transform the world. In that vein, we create vital theatre that rejects norms, champions play, and interrogates truth.
Upstream Performance Collaborative is Global Majority-led and centered, on and off-stage.
Pictured: Quinton J. Alexander as "X" in The White Feather Project. Rowan Quincy Davis Photography
PRODUCTION HISTORY
The inaugural production was The White Feather Project. Funded by the Inclusive Community Grant at Ursinus College, this radical ethnographic devised-play responded to a racially-charged hate crime committed at the institution. Despite administrative efforts to close the show, The White Feather Project sold-out its on-campus performance and successfully remounted at the Shoe Box Short Theatre Festival at Venice Island Performing Arts Center the same year.
WHISPER was Upstream’s second show, co-produced with Shoe Box Theatre Collective. An experiment in improv, scripted text, and technology, WHISPER tackled themes of online community, mental-health, and suicide awareness. It was performed to a live, unsuspecting audience via Twitch and garnered rave reviews during and after its premiere at Director’s Gathering DG Jam 2020.
Pictured: Ryan Rebel as "VideoBlobby" and Taylor Cawley as "theelvencat" in WHISPER. Screenshots from performance.
Pictured: Quinton J. Alexander as "X" in The White Feather Project. Rowan Quincy Davis Photography
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Many world religions grapple with the End of Things through prophecy and poetry. In 1995, two Christian fiction writers and prophecy enthusiasts, Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, released the first book in the “Left Behind” series. Their wildly popular sci-fi interpretation of the book of Revelation became the de facto contemporary Christian understanding of the end times. Many claim the Rapture is the only valid interpretation of God’s truth. This is extremely narrow and problematic, to say the least...
Upstream Performance Collaborative is creating an Afrofuturist dark comedy about the end times called WhatWhiteJesusDo?. Leeway Art & Change Grant Recipient and On Buried Ground playwright Ang(ela) Bey seeks the insights of an intersectional, multifaith community to deepen the play’s development. Want to join?
“Reading the Rapture” is a series of group dialogues about apocalypse and afterlife. Upstream seeks participants from all backgrounds to discuss a variety of religious and secular texts.
Meetings are completely free, open to the public, and drop-in with no requirement for consistent attendance. All meetings will be mediated by Ang(ela) and Upstream Performance Collaborative.
Thoughtful, empathetic, respectful discussions are paramount. We invite participants to share their questions, responses, and lived-experiences, to their comfort-- be they religious or secular. If you approach these topics with curiosity, you are more than welcome to attend!
Meeting dates are:
Thursday, March 7th - 6:30PM to 8PM
Thursday, March 21st - 6:30PM to 8PM
Thursday, April 4th - 6:30PM to 8PM
Thursday, April 18th - 6:30PM to 8PM
Thursday, May 2nd - 6:30PM to 8PM
Thursday, May 16th - 6:30PM to 8PM
Thursday, June 6th - 6:30PM to 8PM
Thursday, June 20th - 6:30PM to 8PM
Wednesday, July 3rd - 6:30PM to 8PM
Thursday, July 18th - 6:30PM to 8PM
Please fill out this Google form if you are interested in attending any combination of meetings.
The link is also here at: https://forms.gle/gCYDEsMGpHEaQTCg9
If you have any issues accessing the form or any additional questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to email Ang(ela) at upstreamperformanceco@gmail.com.
Sarah lives and paints alone. When her night is interrupted by a horrific phone call, Sarah becomes haunted by the West Philadelphia house in which she was raised. COMET is equal parts memory-play and parable about Black girls growing up too fast. COMET interrogates the formative years of our imagination and the worlds we create to protect ourselves. How can we move past trauma that we can’t perceive into a future we couldn’t imagine?
Some anonymized feedback from Barrymore-Recommenders...
"Comet is a very unique one person show about the relationship between a daughter and her father. The show presents a fresh take on the concept of a solo performance, delighting audiences with lots of heart, hope and nostalgia."
"It was as if we were really watching the actor evolve or sometimes devolve into a traumatic memory."
"A rich piece of mixed media, multi-dimensional art. It felt like a dream (at times, a nightmare), throughout which the feelings were familiar, yet everything felt otherworldly in a fascinating and unsettling way. I was thoroughly engaged and intrigued throughout."
Written by Ang(ela) Bey
Directed by Ryan Rebel
Story by Ang(ela) Bey and Ryan Rebel
Stage Managed by Lindsey Silver
Performed by Ang(ela) Bey with Ciera Gardner, Jo Vito Ramirez, Ava Weintzweig, Ryan Rebel, and more.
Assistant Stage Management: Ciera Gardner
Lighting Design: Bless Rudisill
Set Design: Andrew Robinson
Sound Design: Ava Weintzweig
Prop Design: Jo Vito Ramirez
Assistant Prop Design: Lindsey Silver
Production Manager: Ryan Rebel
Photography: Gregory Bissell
COMET is supported by the Black Theatre Alliance of Philadelphia, The Painted Bride Art Center, crowd-funding, and private donors.
You can still donate to Upstream through Venmo. Every little bit helps support the artists responsible for COMET.
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