SISSY
SISSY is a modern-day reimagining of Sisyphus, expressed through dance and explored from a female perspective, taking place between the worlds of a theater and a miles-long rock quarry. But this isn’t just any woman, and this isn’t just any rock—it is a rock by day, the moon by night, and a disco ball for special occasions. And each day, Sissy must push it up the giant quarry which becomes deeper and more vast every time we extract more of the earth away. Not to mention, she’s pregnant. As Sissy’s belly grows, so does the story, and the dance weaves the imaginary world of SISSY into the real-life world of the theaters’ performers and its director, a new mother grappling with caring for her ill father and her baby boy. This piece beautifully and creatively explores the Sisyphean tasks and challenges of motherhood, being an artist, a performer, a daughter—and how our approach to them is the only thing within our control. With overlapping worlds where the imaginary and the real struggle for attention, SISSY—part dance, part theater, and part personal essay—is a beautiful beast of its own making and expression.
Written, Choreographed, and Directed by Celia Rowlson-Hall
Produced by PASTEL and Weird Sister
Featuring: Lucas Hedges*, Jesse Kovarsky*, Nando Morland*, Aliza Russell*, Ida Saki*, Jacob Thoman*, Marisa Tomei*, Jacob Warren*, and Zoë Winters*
Set Design by Anna Grigo
Costume Design by Arjun Bhasin
Lighting Design by serena wong
Composer Lia Ouyang Rusli
Associate Choreographer, Jesse Kovarsky
Sound Design by Brian Hickey
Dramaturgy by Mia Lidofsky
Makeup Design by Mandy Bisesti
Stage Manager, Benjamin Hawkins*
Assistant Stage Manager, Grace Griffin*
Director’s Assistant, Natalie Shinnick
Costume Associate, Dina Aziz
Production Assistant, Matthew Romanski
Technical Director, Nicholas Brester
Scenic Artist, Jillian Eddy
Scenic Shop, Sightline Fabrication
Sissy would like to thank: Douglas and Pru Adler, Cynthia Elliott and Douglas Rice, Cynthia Hammond, Adi Ignatius and Dorinda Elliott, Diana and Sheldon Lidofsky, Lauren Melinda, Evan Moore, Whitney Morse, the Nadine N Moseley Foundation, Jesse Peretz and Sarah Sophie Flicker, Pretty Matches Productions, The Scrap Pile NYC, The Tank, Robert Schulman, Vicky and Gordon Wight.
* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.”
SISSY is made possible in association with Dance Film SF
World Premiere Commissioned by Baryshnikov Arts
Baryshnikov Arts Center, Jerome Robbins Theater
