kin • song: ode to disability ancestors

Conceived and directed by Alexis Riley

kin • song: ode to disability ancestors is a digital performance ritual, a cybernetic seance. Through monologue, dialogue, puppetry, song and dance, we will join creative forces to call upon the ghosts of our disability ancestors, waking them from their unmarked graves to join us in an act of mourning, celebration and care. Here, in the sacred timespace of performance, we will name them, claim them and honor their brilliance, all before (finally) laying them to rest. 

This devised production invites us to grapple with the long history of ableism in Austin, in Texas and in the United States. It demands that we answer that history, accepting a kind of responsibility to those who came before. Finally, it asks us to care for their memory and in that caring, dream a more just future. 

Contains mature content and themes. kin • song: ode to disability ancestors engages historical disability trauma. In order to fully address these themes, the production contains brief ableist language and non-graphic images associated with institutionalization.

For additional artwork and accessibility features, visit kin-song.com.

View the kin • song: ode to disability ancestors playbill.

PERFORMANCES

December 2-4 at 7:30 p.m.
December 4 at 2:00 p.m. 
On-Demand: December 6-12, 2021

POST-PERFORMANCE DISCUSSION

There will be a post-performance discussion featuring members of the creative team following the 2:00 p.m. performance on December 4, 2021. More information will be made available in advance of the event. 

Click here to view this video on Vimeo.

kin • song: ode to disability ancestors is produced, in part, through generous support from The University of Texas at Austin College of Fine Arts Diversity Committee Student Project Grant.