PRELUDE 2026: I Prefer to Die in This Moment | a small gift | Excerpt

Experience this shared evening as part of Prelude 2026:

I PREFER TO DIE IN THIS MOMENT

by Iris McCloughan

ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE

I Prefer To Die In This Moment is a performance centering trans power and presence. Taking formal inspiration from a controversial series of Calvin Klein television ads from 1995, it explores the complex pleasures of objectification, the complicated ways that sex, gender, and power are woven together, and the erotics that simmer just under the surface of the audience-performer encounter. This is a work-in-progress excerpt showing in advance of the project's January 2027 premiere at The Brick in Williamsburg as part of Exponential Festival 2027.

CREDITS

Written, directed, and choreographed by Iris McCloughan. Performed by Arewà Basit. Costumes by Vincent Tiley.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Iris McCloughan is a director, performance maker, and writer in New York. Their performance works have been presented in New York (PAGEANT, BAX, The Poetry Project, Danspace Project, Movement Research at the Judson Church, Ars Nova), Philadelphia (The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia Contemporary, FringeArts), and elsewhere. Their work has been supported with residencies and fellowships from Clubbed Thumb, Soho Rep, The Chocolate Factory Theater, Mercury Store, JACK, and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Recent direction includes Sam Bell's il bunkerini (Clubbed Thumb's Winterworks), Alex Tatarsky's Sad Boys in Harpy Land (Playwrights Horizons, Walker Art Center, MCA Chicago, REDCAT, PICA, On the Boards), and Joan Jonas & Eiko Otake's Drawing in Circles WHY? (Castelli Gallery/Danspace Project).

Arewà Basit is a New York-based multidisciplinary artist, musician, and performer whose work moves fluidly between sound, image, and body. As both a creative and model, she has emerged as a vital voice at the intersection of Black aesthetics, trans identity, and futurist performance. Her 2026 Archive EP blends ambient soul, experimental R&B, and new-wave gospel into a distinct Black trans folk sound, mapping ancestry, memory, and becoming. Across stage, screen, fashion, and music, Arewà's practice invites audiences to witness transformation in real time. Arewà is also Co-Founder of LEGACY: A Black Queer Production Collective, she made her television debut on MTV's Are You The One. Theatre credits include Cellz: Packages O' The Things We Deliver (National Black Theatre). She originated Diamond in A Complicated Woman (Goodspeed) and played Maya in the short film Dolls, produced by Lilly Wachowski. She most recently understudied Performer 3 and 4 in Prince Faggot Off-Broadway (Studio Seaview).

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a small gift

by Isa Spector

ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE:

tiny block to baffle the eye.

CREDITS

Created by Isa Spector. Featuring Lena Engelstein and Jack Whitescarver.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Isa Spector is a writer, choreographer and director based in New York. Spector creates performance between theater and dance, spinning stories of contemporary life through strange and fantastic movement. Spector’s work has been presented in theaters, museums, office buildings, nightclubs, parks and radio stations.

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EXCERPT

by Anna Thérèse Witenberg:

ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE

An excerpt of a work in progress. A quartet for four dancers.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Anna Thérèse Witenberg is a dancer and choreographer based in NY. Her work has been shown at Danspace Project, Canada Gallery, Pageant, Iowa, and MoMa as a part of the Pageant Residency. Her collaborative choreography with Shade Théret entitled “Mal Intent” was staged in the Ethnologisches Museum. As a dancer, she has collaborated extensively with artists such as Sarah Michelson, and visual artist Nick Mauss on his exhibition at the Whitney, as well as performing with the Merce Cunningham Trust in their restagings of his work. As a movement director she has worked on campaigns for Versace, Apple, and Nike.