Saturday, November 5, 2022
8pm doors / 8:30pm show
Tickets $25 (discounted or free for members)
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This performance will take place at the former Theater Rhino, down the hall from The Lab. The doors will close at 8:30pm, no late entries allowed.

Brontez Purnell is an acclaimed writer (100 Boyfriends published by MCDxFSG Originals) and dancer (Brontez Purnell Dance Company) whose writing rises from movement and whose dancing is often steeped in language. His latest dance solo Invisible Trial – choreographed by Larry Arrington with dramaturgy by Jeremy O. Harris – is loosely based on the Sylvia Plath short Story Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams The protagonist, a receptionist at a mental health clinic, acts as a sort of medium for the living as he secretly records the dreams, fears, and anxieties of those he encounters. His boss is the God of Anxiety himself who is keeping tabs on the protagonist snooping. Through dance, text, and installation, Invisible Trial attempts to name those fears and fantasies around patriarchal inheritance, shadow work being done against us, and the burning question: are we ever the sole agents of our own fate?

Purnell has been described as "a restless, prolific artist in almost every conceivable genre" (The New York Times). Invisible Trial – Purnell's first evening-length dance solo piece – has been on the artist's mind for over a decade. He began dancing in contemporary Haitian and West African companies and in his 20s was part of the electroclash queer dance band Gravy Train!!!, before devoting himself to studying dance and founding the Brontez Purnell Dance Company (which builds works that combine punk rock subversion and free jazz improvisation in a company comprising movers and artists of all disciplines) in 2010.

For his 2017 commission at The Lab, Brontez Purnell created Unstoppable Feat, The Dances of Ed Mock, a multimedia project that allowed artists and audiences to actively engage with the legacy of the late San Francisco postmodern choreographer.