Sibyl Kempson:
12 Shouts to the Ten Forgotten Heavens: Summer Solstice

Devos Largo; Floor 3, Susan and John Hess Family Theater; Floor 6; Floor 8, Tufte Trustee Room

This performance, the sixth Shout in this cycle of twelve rituals, will celebrate the upcoming Summer Solstice, which takes place on June 21, at 12:24 am EDT.

The Summer Solstice, also known as Midsummer Eve, marks the shortest night of the year, the day of longest light, and official start of summer. This year, it comes with an opportunity to open ourselves up and receive sudden messages and insights into new answers toward fairness and balance. We stand both at the middle and in the beginning, with the advantage of new vision with which we can rewrite mythological histories. Attendees will gather around a sacred fire, journey back to a former home, and welcome the warm season ahead.

12 Shouts to the Ten Forgotten Heavens is a three-year iterative performance project by American playwright, director, and performer Sibyl Kempson with her theater company, 7 Daughters of Eve Thtr. & Perf. Co. Presented at the Whitney on twelve occasions, 12 Shouts will mark each solstice and equinox occurring between March 2016 and December 2018 creating a new ceremonial calendar and a contemporary mythology.

"If you attended last year's Autumnal Equinox, and you still have your tobacco, you can instill it with prayers and bring it to the Communal Fire on the 20th. Its smoke will carry those prayers to where they will be heard.

The Summer Solstice ritual is dedicated to the memory of Lenore Doxsee, our wonderful lighting designer, who recently passed away after a years-long fight with cancer. We had just started working with Lenore, and it was magic. We feel her close by, continuing to light our way."—Sibyl Kempson

Sibyl Kempson (b. 1973) is a playwright, director, and performer, and a 2014 United States Artists Rockefeller Fellow. She recently founded 7 Daughters of Eve Thtr. & Perf. Co., presenting Let Us Now Praise Susan Sontag at the Abrons Arts Center in 2015. A resident playwright at New Dramatists, her play Fondly, Collette Richland, a collaboration with Elevator Repair Service, premiered at New York Theatre Workshop in September, 2015. Her plays have been presented in NYC, Minneapolis, Baltimore, Omaha, Bonn, and Austin, TX. She is a 2010 MacDowell Colony Fellow and a 2013–14 McKnight National Resident and Commissionee.

Performers:
Dee Dorcas Beasnael
Max Chester
WooJae Chung
Rainer Ciuffo
Anne Gridley
Greta Hartenstein
Eleanor Hutchins
Robert M. Johanson
Sibyl Kempson
Sarah Matusek
Jodi Melnick
Tavish Miller
Tanya Selvaratnam
Sarah Willis

and special featured guests:
Sophia Al-Maria
Eryk Aughenbaugh
Sahra Motalebi
Oceana James

Collaborators:
Astrological imagery: Omie Johnson
Choreography: Jodi Melnick
Costume design: Suzanne Bocanegra
Set and Media Design: DIORAMA
Songs: Sarah Matusek
Sound design: Tei Blow
Video: James Benson
Stage management: Molly Zimmelman
Production assistance: Livia Reiner and Sarah Scholl
Costume assistance: Theodora Lang and Molly Lieberman

This event has reached capacity.

Doors open at 10:00 pm. Audience is requested to arrive promptly at 10:00 pm. Arrivals after 10:30 pm will not be admitted.