Searching for Eastman

Shortlisted for the ReLit Award, Poetry, 2022

searching for eastman is a multidisciplinary performance–a choreopoem–in four acts, based on the interpretation of four of Julius Eastman’s compositions–evil nigger; prelude to st joan; stay on it; and gay guerrilla. Making use of different artistic forms–poetry, theatre, music, dance, video, and digital–it is inspired by the African griot tradition, the Harlem Renaissance (eg the work of Langston Hughes with jazz and Kurt Weil), and the Black Arts movement (eg Amiri Baraka’s work with Sun Ra).