The Bushwick Starr presents:
SLAMDANCE garage
Created and performed by Ian Andrew Askew
Produced in association with ¡Oye! Group
February 5 - March 1, 2025
At The Bushwick Starr
CREATIVE TEAM:
Production Designer: Cheyanne Williams, Lighting Designer: Itohan Edoloyi, Sound Designer: Anthony Sertel Dean, Movement Director: Justin Allen, Stage Manager: Sydneii Colter, Assistant Stage Manager: Malena Logan, Assistant Costume Designer: Noah Willis-Hogan, Audio Describer: Shara Lunon
Line Producer: Alverneq Lindsay
ADDITIONAL STAFF:
Devin McCallion Fletcher (Production Manager), Jay Maury (Technical Director), Colleen Combs (Assistant Technical Director), Chavon Patterson (Box Office Manager), Jen Williams (House Manager), Justin Allen (House Associate)
CREW:
Production Electrician: Cat Dawes, Wardrobe Supervisor: Noah Willis-Hogan, Sound Mixer & Operator: Blaize Sanford
Lighting Crew: Gia Ramos, Kourtney Charles, Aldric Durham, Joaquim Stevenson-Rodriguez
Audio Crew: LeiOra Hughes, Iz Fuerter
Scenic Crew: Joaquim Stevenson-Rodriguez, Cole Montgomery
PERFORMANCE INFO
Run time: 60 minutes, one act
Performance contains: Loud music, haze and flashing lights
Accessibility & Communal Safety:
Masks are required at all performances and events. Help us slow the spread of airborne infections and make performances more accessible for those most affected by the ongoing pandemic.
All performances will feature open captioning. Live audio description will be offered on February 13 and 22.
This is a concert-style environment with primarily standing room in front of the stage. There is also a 38 person seating section available on a first come first served basis, or for people who require a seat. You will have the opportunity to let us know if you have an access seating need at check-out.
Please contact boxoffice@thebushwickstarr.org for more information on how we can meet your access needs.
The Bushwick Starr is a fully ADA accessible venue.
VIEW SOCIAL NARRATIVE HERE
SPECIAL EVENTS
Black Theater Night (with code SDG0221)
Friday, 2/21, 7:30pm
SLAMDANCE Vendor Markets at the Starr
FREE walk-in events highlighting Black and Indigenous makers and messengers featuring art, apparel, books, zines, jewelry, readings, and more!
Saturday 2/15 2:30-7:30pm
Saturday 2/22 2:30-7:30pm
Closing Party at Trans-Pecos (915 Wyckoff Ave)
Saturday 3/1, doors at 4:30pm
Featuring performances by Bri Frei, Justin Allen, Shara Lunon, aden, FISHLORD, Lake Lanier, and Pucker Up!
GET TIX HERE
BIOS:
Ian Andrew Askew (Creator/Performer) is an artist working in music, theater, and performance. Their research is concerned with historical absurdities, manufactured scarcities, and contrary negritudes. Recent projects include Unnamed Leagues (Peabody Essex Museum), Until Other Times (JACK), and Sorry John Henry the song has no end (developed in residency at Hubbard Hall, Baryshnikov Arts Center, and Wake Forest University). As a sound artist, they have created scores for installations and performances by Christopher Myers, Kaneza Schaal, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Joie Lee, James Gibbel, and Kamal Nassif. Ian co-sound designed and performed in KLII (Walker Art Center, REDCAT, Chelsea Factory). As an associate stage director for opera, they have presented work with Lincoln Center, The American Repertory Theater, The Metropolitan Museum, Detroit Opera, Spoleto Festival USA, LA Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Carolina Performing Arts. Upcoming: In the Space Between with VLA Dance, presented by The Theater Offensive. ianandrewaskew.com
Cheyanne Williams (Production Designer, she/they) is a New York-based designer and theater artist who collaborates across multiple disciplines and mediums. Recent credits include Scenic Design for Highway 1 (LA Opera) and Until Other Times (JACK). As Technical Director for Kaneza Schaal, Cheyanne developed and toured productions including Omar (Carolina Performing Arts, Boston Lyric Opera, LA Opera), KLII (Chelsea Factory, REDCAT, Walker Art Center), CARTOGRAPHY (NYU Abu Dhabi, The Kennedy Center), and JACK & (BAM, NY Live Arts, On the Boards, MCA Chicago). Cheyanne was the Technical Director and resident Designer for the Toward a New Collectivity residency program at The Performing Garage, developing projects including Kiara Benn’s Just for (you), Otracami’s Touching the Stove Coil, Ian Andrew Askew’s SLAMDANCE garage, and Kamal Nassif’s على ايدها (Ala Eadha). Upcoming projects include Scenic Design for Sorry John Henry the song has no end (in development). BA: Wesleyan University, Theater.
Itohan Edoloyi (Lighting Designer) is a Broadway lighting designer and artist whose work is rooted in community and culture. Her work aims to continue storytelling in non-traditional ways, crafting meaningful experiences through the lens of light and immersion. Itohan has designed for theatre, dance, music performances and installations. She has worked nationally and internationally at venues such as: James Earl Jones Theatre, Lincoln Center, The Shed, Little Island, Joyce Theater, Transit Festival in Belgium, Espace Libre, Guggenheim Museum, The Momentary, Conjunto Santander de Artes Escénicas, REDCAT, Walker Arts Center and more. Itohan has co-curated The Social Sculpture Project at Lincoln Center and is the curator for InLight Collective. She also associate designed Trouble in Mind (Broadway) & We’re Gonna Die (Second Stage). Itohan has been awarded the Lilly Award and the Gilbert V. Hemsley Lighting Award. itohanedoloyi.com.
Anthony Sertel Dean (Sound Designer) is a hypercollaborative sound artist, educator, and technologist focused on telling stories of community and self. Their work pulls from practices of electroacoustic composition, oral history, and experimental performance, utilizing media to build environments for communal understanding.
Anthony’s work can be heard in gallery installations (Gwangju Biennale, Fridman Gallery, Swiss Institute), theater (Kennedy Center, New Victory, Public), film (Film at Lincoln Center, Busan International Film Festival), and radio (WNYC). They have taught at Wesleyan University, multiple NYC public schools, Materials for the Arts, and spoken on panels about the future of theater design and contemporary indigenous performance. Anthony has been a member of The New York Neo-Futurists for a decade and created their podcast Hit Play.
Anthony holds an MFA in Sound Art from Columbia University, and works at/out of Mercury Store in Brooklyn, New York. For more, visit anthonydean.org
Justin Allen (Movement Director) works in music and sound, performance, visual art, and writing. He has been commissioned by The Chocolate Factory Theater, The Shed, and ISSUE Project Room and received support from Franklin Furnace, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and the Jerome Foundation. He received his BA in literary studies from Eugene Lang College at The New School and his MFA in sculpture from Yale School of Art. In 2022 he released a four-song EP with his punk band Black Boots. In 2024, he released his first book, Language Arts, published by Wendy’s Subway.
Sydneii Colter (Production Stage Manager, she/her) is excited to be back working with the Bushwick Starr for SLAMDANCE garage. Off-Broadway: Bad Kreyol (Signature Theatre), Bernarda's Daughters, Evanston Salt Costs Climbing, Black No More (The New Group), Covenant (Roundabout Theater). Other recent credits include: Self-Portraits (The Bushwick Starr), Sweet Chariot (Shiva Theatre), Echoes in the Garden (The Chain Theatre).
Malena Logan (Assistant Stage Manager, they/she) is a multi-disciplinary theater artist based in New York City. They focus on management, props and scenery.
Alverneq Lindsay (Line Producer, she/her) is a creative producer, performer, and arts advocate based in Brooklyn, NY. With a diverse background in supporting artists across various disciplines, she has worked as a Producer at The Movement Theatre Company, The Bushwick Starr, and The Public Theater.
Passionate about enhancing arts access for both artists and audiences, she’s worked as an artistic curator at Little Island and the New Victory Theater. As an independent producer, Alverneq creates spaces that foster community by encouraging emotional vulnerability and a sense of play. She’s driven by her belief that the arts can cultivate empathy and inspire us to reimagine our future.
¡Oye! Group (Associate Producer) is a Bushwick-based creative incubator for artists, students, and community members of all ages, both local and immigrant to New York City. Our work is grounded in the act of listening that gave us our company name: we curate art that sparks a dialogue over the political and social issues that our community tells us are critical to them. We present an eclectic mix of theater, dance, poetry, music, video installations, and film through festivals and productions. We work with emerging artists to create, play, and grow in an environment that challenges and supports them, and we engage youth and adults alike through high-quality arts education that provides them with the tools to generate forward-thinking art that compliments the work on our stages.
SPECIAL THANKS:
Kaneza Schaal, The Wooster Group, Des Bennett, The Theater Offensive, Matt Moran, Gabriele Preston, Morgan Askew, Charolette Askew, K. Claire Russell, Justin W., James Gibbel, David Glista, Kamal Nassif, Andres Abenante, Camila Ortiz, Claire Dickson, Andrew Gitchel, James Stanley, Stefan Bindley-Taylor, Jesse Cameron Alick, Maia Tivony, Naomi Saito, Bry Newton
SUPPORT + DEVELOPMENT:
SLAMDANCE garage is made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), Foundation for Contemporary Arts (FCA), and the New York Chapter of the Awesome Foundation, or AwesomeNYC @awesomefound.nyc
The SLAMDANCE series was conceived through an independent study with Harvard Theater, Dance, and Media. SLAMDANCE TV, a video essay, was commissioned and published by The Kitchen in 2021. SLAMDANCE garage was presented in-progress at The Performing Garage in 2021 with support from Kaneza Schaal and the Wooster Group. The Bushwick Starr’s presentation of SLAMDANCE garage was developed in residency at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA.
Marketing photo by Machel Ross