The Shed

Kenneth Branagh in King Lear by William Shakespeare

### Event Description: Open Call: Kayla Hamilton - The Shed

**Event Title:** Open Call: Kayla Hamilton

**Dates:** August 15 - 17

**Time:** 7:30 PM

**Location:** The Griffin Theater, The Shed, 545 West 30th Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues, New York, NY 10001

**Event Overview:**
Join us for an immersive dance performance by Kayla Hamilton, titled "How to Bend Down/How to Pick it Up," as part of The Shed's Open Call series. This multidisciplinary performance honors the lineages of Black disabled imagination and explores alternative world-building. The performance navigates through three historical spaces—the cotton field, the Black church, and the freakshow/circus—where disability was often hidden, deemed unproductive, or reduced to spectacle. Through this work, Hamilton reclaims agency and recenter parts of the self that were discarded or suppressed in these settings, envisioning a future where every-body is free.

**Admission:**
Admission to Open Call events is free with a ticket reservation. Members receive early access to reservations beginning Tuesday, July 16. Reservations will be available to the general public on Thursday, July 18. For sold-out performances, an in-person waitlist will be available 15 minutes before the show begins.

**Accessibility:**
- **Seating:** The Griffin Theater has accessible seating. Please contact us in advance to discuss your needs by emailing accessibility@theshed.org or calling 646-455-3949.
- **Assistive Listening:** Devices are available at the theater entrance. A driver’s license will be held to check out the device.
- **ASL Interpretation and Audio Description:** Available at all performances. Audio description is delivered via the free Listen Everywhere app on your personal device. Connect to The Shed’s free Wi-Fi network, TheShedFreeWiFi, to use the app.

**Creative Team:**
- **Kayla Hamilton:** Creator, Texas-born, Bronx-based performance maker, dancer, educator, and consultant. Hamilton is a Jerome Hill and Pina Bausch Fellow and a NEFA National Dance Production Project Grant recipient.
- **Joselia Rebekah Hughes:** Writer, Researcher, and Creative Consultant. Hughes is an Afro-Caribbean-descended writer, editor, access provider, and interdisciplinary teaching artist based in the Bronx.

**Contact Information:**
For more information about accessibility and arriving at The Shed, visit our Accessibility page. For questions or other requests, email accessibility@theshed.org or call 646-455-3494.

**Support:**
The Open Call series is generously supported by various foundations and organizations, including The Wescustogo Foundation, Jody and John Arnhold Arnhold Foundation, the Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Commissioning Fund, and the Charina Endowment Fund.

**Additional Information:**
For more details about the event and to reserve your tickets, visit The Shed's official website.