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Niegel Smith

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Wednesday, October 3, 2012
- | Outdoor Event

Eat Me, Drink Me, Homo

Photo courtesy of the artist


“It’s refreshing to find a deliberately constructed experience — a performance — that exists just for itself, or just for you.”
— The Brooklyn Rail

PLEASE NOTE: Eat me, Drink Me, Homo is an outdoor walk designed for a very limited number of participants. Sign up in advance in the Segal Lobby. First come, first served. Please wear comfortable shoes.

“As a young gay in a Catholic all-boy’s high school, I was often reminded of my outsider’s perspective. But, when the sacrament of communion, a sacrament in which only practicing Catholics (and I have never been one) are supposed to participate, was celebrated at an all school mass, I just couldn’t help myself. I had to join in. Breaking bread. Sharing wine. And muttering Latin phrases. It was the best kind of community performance — an opportunity to transcend our individuality and draw closer through shared experience. So now I invite you to to leave the rigid confines of organized religion and join me for an intimate walk outside. I’ll lead you in a heightened sensory experience as we share new texts, create ritual gestures and mold the outside into our sanctuary. But, don’t forget to say your prayers, things might get rough when we try to get a little bit closer.” — Niegel

Lead Artist: NIEGEL SMITH is a performance artist and theater director who sculpts social spaces into unique communal environments where we make new rituals, excavate our pasts and imagine future narratives. His walks have been produced by Elastic City and his theater by The Public Theater, Classical Theatre of Harlem, HERE Arts Center, Hip Hop Theatre Festival, Summer Play Festival, New York Fringe Festival and the Phoenix Theatre Ensemble. With Todd Shalom, Niegel has co-conceived and staged various mass performances in public settings. Niegel is a graduate of Dartmouth College, the associate director of the Tony Award winning musical Fela! and has received grants and fellowships from Theater Communications Group, the Van Lier Fund and the Tucker Foundation. Before surviving high school in Detroit, he grew up in the North Carolina piedmont, fishing with his dad, shopping with his mom and inventing tall-tale fantasies with his two younger brothers.

www.niegelsmith.com