The New York premiere of Aleshea Harris' What to Send Up When it Goes Down, directed by Whitney White and now playing at A.R.T./New York Theatres, has extended and will continue through December 16. The show, a community ritual created in response to the deaths of Black people as a result of racialized violence, opened to critical acclaim November 19.
What to Send Up When it Goes Down began previews November 11 and was originally scheduled through December 8. The Movement Theatre Company production plays in the Jeffrey and Paula Gural Theatre.
In What to Send Up When it Goes Down, a series of vignettes build to a climactic moment where performance and reality collide, highlighting the absurdity of anti-Blackness in society.
The ensemble cast features Alana Raquel Bowers, Rachel Christopher, Ugo Chukwu, Kambi Gathesha, Naomi Lorrain, Denise Manning, Javon Q. Minter, and Beau Thom.
The production features sets by Yu-Hsuan Chen (The Homecoming Queen), costumes by Andy Jean (Scraps), lighting by Cha See (Cute Activist), and sound design by Sinan Refik Zafar (And She Would Stand Like This). The production stage manager is Genevieve Ortiz (Seven Spots on the Sun). Nissy Aya and Zhailon Levingston serve as the Community Engagement Team.
