Series Archive

• 2026 | On Stage

  Jan 15–May 16, 2026

  The 2026 On Stage series presents a collection of works that present opportunities to examine the elements of live performance itself. The four artists in this series express urgency by creating intimacy with audiences, either by addressing audiences directly, drawing them in as co-participants in collective experiences or rituals, or bringing them into close physical proximity: Alex Tatarsky, Nacera Belaza, Leslie Cuyjet, and Kimberly Bartosik.

  In a political moment of continued division, audiences are invited to embrace opportunities to come close to live performance, get intimate, and break down the boundaries of separation across difference.

  This season of On Stage is organized by Director of Performance and Public Programs, Moira Brennan, and Assistant Curator of Performance and Public Programs, Laura Paige Kyber.

• 2025 | Lineages

  Jan 31–Apr 19, 2025

  The 2025 series focuses on the concept of “lineages,” and features works by four artists who explore formal, temporal, and personal notions about identity and shared history from outside and within the art world: Elisa Harkins, Anne Collod, Miguel Gutierrez, and Kaneza Schaal.

  These performances interrogate mainstream, Western ideas defining what is “contemporary” in performance art, especially when non-Western art forms have historically been categorized as “traditional” or “cultural” despite developing synchronously. In doing so, Lineages examines the plurality and multiplicities of timelines, reshaping what we consider to be new.

  Lineages is organized by Laura Paige Kyber, Assistant Curator of Performance.

• 2024 | Resonance

  Mar 28–May 11, 2024

  The 2024 On Stage series focused on the concept of “resonance,” and featured works by four artists who explore the physicality of sound and voice: Anna Martine Whitehead, Samita Sinha, Laura Ortman, and 7NMS | Marjani Forté-Saunders and Everett Saunders.

  These performances question how sound resonates in, through, and out of the body. How does an individual voice their lived experience in society with sonorous force? How does sound reverberate in the space between oneself and others? Engaging with themes of futurity, grief, empathy, and spiritual becoming, these four performances invite audiences to consider sound as an introspective force for greater understanding, compassion, and change.

  Resonance is organized by Tara Aisha Willis, former Curator in Performance, with Laura Paige Kyber, Assistant Curator of Performance.

• 2023 | Frictions

  Apr 6–Jul 9, 2023

  Frictions presents performances by three artists—Will Rawls, Shamel Pitts | TRIBE, and Barak adé Soleil—who explore blackness through bodily movement. Through in-person performances as well as performance-driven video installations, their works engage themes including queer intimacy, disabled bodies in motion and at rest, and the relationship between animation, race, and history. Defying conventional notions of blackness, queerness, movement, dance, and performance, Frictions invites both audiences and performers to engage with the productive tensions that emerge through each work.

  Frictions is organized by Tara Aisha Willis, Curator in Performance, with Laura Paige Kyber, Curatorial Associate in Performance. Additional support on Will Rawls, [siccer], provided by Nolan Jimbo, Marjorie Susman Curatorial Fellow.

• 2022 | Entanglement

  Mar 24–May 8, 2022

  This year, the suite focuses on how the ways we connect are sometimes fleeting, sometimes enduring. Our most familiar relationships sometimes fade away, yet a brief romantic encounter can create a lifelong memory. Even a passing, random interaction with a stranger can foster a feeling of connection and responsibility to others. How we are enmeshed with people—and the world—impacts every part of our daily lives. In this season of MCA On Stage, three distinct performances engage with our many entanglements.

  On Stage: Entanglement is a suite of performances organized by Tara Aisha Willis; Curator, Performance and Public Practice; with Marjorie Susman Curatorial Fellow Nolan Jimbo and Curatorial Assistants Otez Gary and Laura Paige Kyber