ABOUT THE EVENT

A man walks into a room with his life in his hands. He is the internationally acclaimed artist and playwright Inua Ellams (Barber Shop Chronicles, The Half God of Rainfall) and he has filled thousands of pages in an ongoing attempt to be heard, to give his genius wings that can travel. Every word he’s ever written is captured, all the poems and the theater and the essays, the drafts of projects abandoned and works as yet unknown, indexed, rendered as binary and waiting patiently within the confines of the electronic tablet he’s holding even now. Pick a word, any word. Prompted by audience suggestion and open conversation, Ellams searches through his archive, unearths refined or raw gold and presents his treasure in a spontaneous performance. Search Party is an act of call and response that hearkens back to the birth of storytelling. At this uniquely futuristic and puckishly chaotic interactive event, the artist couldn’t be more present. He’s inviting you to join the work. What do you say?

“Brave, quirky and engaging...reminding us that poetry amounts to more than a word search.”

–The Guardian

UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVAL

Presented in partnership with UNDER THE RADAR Festival
Mark Russell, Festival Director & ArKtype, Festival Producer

The Clarice is thrilled to present these performances of Search Party in partnership with New York's celebrated UNDER THE RADAR festival. After the renewed theater and performance festival runs at venues throughout Manhattan in January 2024, RADAR will extend its reach beyond New York City with its On the Road program–with The Clarice as one of its stops.

SUPPORT

The performance is supported in part by the Maryland State Arts Council and The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation.