Writings and Performances
October 28th, 1963, New York City: Pennsylvania Station is slated for demolition. The wrecking crews are outside dismantling a fifty-three-year-old marvel of American Beaux arts architecture. Inside a construction worker, turned photographer, is running away from his past while an aging activist can’t let his go. Set against the actual photographic catalogue of Penn Station’s tragic demolition, The Eternal Space is a play that charts two very different lives brought together by the historic act that divides them. The production went on to have a very successful six week Off-Broadway engagement at Theatre Row's the Lion Theater in the Fall of 2015
The Wonder City
The Wonder City is a graphic novel that re-imagines the entire history of New York City in an adventure where myth and history become intertwined in a 400-year-old mystery. There are two issues of a larger series completed, Issue 1: The Great Whale of Coney Island and Issue 2: The Tovernboak with more to hopefully come in the future.
Glory Be Columbia, co-created with artist Aaron Asis, is envisioned as a theatrical tour of the S.S. Columbia boat for those who did not have a chance to see her in her heyday. The immersive narrative explores a woman’s life-long and unique connection to one of America’s last day boat steamers as both her older and younger selves act as an archive to Columbia‘s special place in the lives of so many Detroit-area natives.
Before creating and leading Untapped New York’s experiences, almost three years was spent writing pieces for Untapped’s online magazine centering on historic discoveries of New York City’s icons and lesser known stories. Highlights include the creation of the “This Week in NYC History” column, a weekly digest of the Wonder City, and continuing discoveries in one New York’s most maligned and fascinating public spaces, Penn Station.
Dark Passage was a theatrical activation of the off-limits munition’s magazine at Fort Totten’s Water Battery in Queens, NY. It was part of a larger multifaceted event called Fortified which visually highlighted the lesser-known facts of the Fort Totten Park while inspiring visitors to engage with its long and storied history. The on-sight performance was a mix of guided tour and theatrical portrayal surrounding the sonic ghosts of two late-19th Army Core of Engineer officers who once patrolled the now completely empty and dark space.
The New York Subway system has 472 stations and Subway Serials aims to give each of them an interlocking set of narrative poems and visual accompaniment by Aaron Asis. Each will stand alone but also come together to wave a larger story. The greater work is designed like a puzzle for the reader to put together based on station, line, and historic subway companies (IRT, BMT, IND) that used to privately operate the subways before the unification of the system in 1940. Subway Serials is a continuing work that continues to unfold.