In what ways does a meal distinctly allow commemoration and also provide nourishment? And where are the joy-working and life-sustaining spaces of the future?
COMMUNION (C7M7N): a ritual of nourishment and commemoration is a participatory “blues Eucharist” inspired by Kenyon Adams’ early experiences in the Black Protestant churches of his childhood in the Southeast region of the United States. In collaboration with chef and artist Omar Tate (featured in the Netflix series High on the Hog), food and culture writer Osayi Endolyn (The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food: A Cookbook), and visual artist Ambrose Rhapsody Murray, Kenyon is creating an offering to the audience, with poems, prayers, movement, music, and food. The ritual applies the distinct paradox which imbues a Eucharistic meal: the partaking of which is simultaneously a commemoration of death as well as a claim of unity with that which cannot die or be diminished. COMMUNION seeks to construct new spaces and traditions of testimony and witness.
This work is part of the artist’s own reckoning with death in the pandemic and the ways it has disproportionately affected BIPOC communities, as well as the ongoing violence against black bodies within American society. COMMUNION is the second installment of a ritual trilogy, WATCHNIGHT: WE ARE ALMOST TO OUR DESTINATION. The first part, Prayers of the People, was presented by the Fisher Center in 2018 in collaboration with the Hannah Arendt Center.
Kenyon (KYN) Adams Lead Artist | Cantor | Voice, Harp
JaQuan Beachem ’17 Cantor | Words
Osayi Endolyn Congregant | Text
Kayla Farrish Duende | Movement
Clarence Grant II Duende | Percussion
John Hall Duende | Bass
Craig Hartley Duende | Keys
James Moss Duende | Percussion, Voice
Ambrose Rhapsody Murray Congregant | Sculpture Design
Jonathan Rodgers Duende | Music Direction, Tuned Glass, Guitar
Omar Tate Congregant | Art, Text, Poetics, Meal
Danielle Wood Congregant | Voice
Ciko Sidzumo ’24 and Immanuel Williams ’24 Lead Ushers
Rebecca MeekGraphic Design Print Coordinator
Nick Hawrylko Lighting Design
Moe Schell Costume Design
Grace Locklin Production Stage Manager