♡P!3ce of m3♡ @ SFPC/CultureHub NYC

Photography by: CultureHub/Tony Sylwanowicz
Performers/Creators: Andrew Rodriguez Calderón, Carolyn Ahearn, Hillary Gao, Jenny Lee
Special Thanks: Todd Anderson & Tiri Kananuruk

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“♡P!3ce of m3♡” centers around the queer experience of trying to find ways to please and appease heteronormative culture to feel loved, wanted, or validated. We distill this into three questions:
“What do you want me to do?”
“What do you want me to say?”
“What do you want me to feel?”
With these prompts, the audience can access a website - via a QR code near their seats - where they can input preselected “instructions” for the performers or write their own. A live feed of these inputs is projected in real-time against a wall behind the performers. Two performers face each other while a third performer stares directly at the audience, all unable to see the incoming live feed of instructions. The audience then narrates the input as a fourth performer acting like a power broker wields a kill switch for each scene.
The performers must decide when or how quickly to respond to each prompt using movement, sound, or interaction. The performers move in and out of “action” when the fourth performer hits the kill switch, allowing the piece to move through the different question-based scenes.
Finally, in the fourth “free for all” stage, the audience can input or shout whatever they want. The performers move from confronting one another to engaging the audience and mirroring what they receive.
The result is a networked performance that combines audience and performer in a choreography of control. The performers on stage are ultimately puppets subject to the will of an audience that can never be pleased.