M _ _ _ ER

Combining improvisation with sculpture, sound, and lights, M _ _ _ ER taps into the tangled relationships we have with familiar people and things to examine the shifting dynamics of intimacy between audience members' senses of self, others, and objects. The title suggests various interpretations of its missing letters; the performance itself addresses ideas such as “mother,” “murder,” and “matter,” while still leaving room for ambiguity. M _ _ _ ER is a nonlinear, scenic examination of entanglements, from mothers to matter. Investigating relationships that are common to almost everyone, the performance probes the precarity inherent to physical proximity or emotional closeness. Using her training as an improviser and the inexhaustible possibilities each audience member brings, Knight’s work regularly puts Black femmes—often herself—in contested and confrontational positions of power. Knight guides her audiences through indeterminate situations that illuminate the relationships at play in performance and in our everyday lives. The controlled chaos of these mysterious group interactions provokes laughter and occasional discomfort, using irrationality to make meaning out of our contemporary culture. This project is organized by Tara Aisha Willis; Curator, Performance and Public Practice; with Laura Paige Kyber, Curatorial Assistant. The livestreamed performance is coproduced by On the Boards, contemporary performance center, Seattle, Washington.