“Radical Hospitality”: Relaxed Performances on the MCA Stage

This post is an excerpt from my article on Sixty Inches From Center, which supports and promotes art and writing that thrives primarily outside of mainstream historical narratives.

Chair or floor cushion? I decided to make myself comfortable in a chair on the corner of the stage—in the midst of the action, but removed enough to observe much of what was happening at the edges of the space. This performance of Claire Cunningham & Jess Curtis’ The Way You Look (at me) Tonight was certainly relaxed. Escorted to stage level, the audience was invited to sit directly on the stage in clusters of chairs and cushions, and prompted to make themselves at home, even remove their heavy winter boots if they were so inclined.

After explaining what to expect, Cunningham and Curtis—acclaimed international theatre and dance artists—set into motion a “collage of dance, song, and text.” For roughly 100 minutes, the audience was treated to a show pendulating between humorous yet poignant moments and more classical performance segments of dance and song. (You can see a clip here). Though classical might be the wrong word, as Cunningham and Curtis’ work itself questions what we consider classic or traditional, playing with romantic ideals, gender roles, body identity, and everything in between. Speaking directly to some of these adult perspectives and concerns is one the central ideas behind the MCA’s Relaxed Performance program.

Many Americans might be familiar with the idea of sensory-friendly performances. These are often geared towards families with children on the autism spectrum. While options like this are important to have, there’s a serious lack of programming for adults with disabilities that doesn’t infantilize the audience. To bring this type of work to the MCA Stage, the museum’s Curator of Performance Yolanda Cesta Cursach looked to the U.K., an international leader in accessible practices. The museum’s pilot relaxed performance took place during the December 2016 run of Julie Atlas Muz and Mat Fraser’s Beauty and the Beast. The show deliberately used sexuality and a “healthy dose of nudity” in order to “honor and subvert some of the social undercurrents of the eighteenth-century fairy tale.” After the initial test, the MCA Stage went from one relaxed performance in a season to four, with plans to increase these offerings in the future. (Sixty readers might recall a previous look at what goes into the interpretation services of an MCA Stage piece like Faye Driscoll’s Play).

I sat down with Cursach, as well as Curatorial Assistant, Phill Cabeen, to learn a bit more about their approach to expanding access at the MCA Stage.

Courtney Graham: Given the content, The Way You Look (at me) Tonight is very much rooted in access, but how has implementing relaxed performances differed for each show?

Phill Cabeen: The work we curate lends itself to this type of program. We think of them as collaborations; this isn’t a compromise, it’s an enhancement. In some instances, we get to introduce this concept to the artists, and they get really excited about it.

Yolanda Cesta Cursach: It’s just changing how we approach the same goal—the engaged performance.

Read the rest of this piece at Sixty Inches From Center.