In performance everyone present is involved/is responsible for the experience of River See. One actor (Sonja Parks) tells the story (the entire script is her text). Additionally, during performance singers and dancers respond to Bridgforth's gestures (her Composition language/which asks them to do various things). The audience is invited to choose how they will be active Witness/participants. Some listen/hold space. Some translate bits of text, some offer gestures. Some share in telling the story. Some chant. All work to serve the main character SEE as she tells her story. Through a collective process, all become responsible to one another in the art of creating a piece about Love. This way of working, uses Black traditions as the base for bringing together people from different ethnicities, religions, generations, gender and sexual identities, places of origin, class backgrounds, abilities, and aesthetics.
With support from the MAP Fund, National Performance Network Commissioning Fund, Presenting Partners that include: Links Hall (Chicago), The Theater Offensive (Boston), Pillsbury House Theatre (MLPS), Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator (Miami) and Living Arts Tulsa (Tusla), Bridgforth conducted 18 River See workshop experiments around the country to date. Experiments focused on selecting the excerpts that make up the performance script; developing performance techniques necessary to make jazz out of these blues stories; and the refining of community engagement best practices. The show premiered at Links Hall in Chicago in June 2014 and is now on tour. More at riversee.com and sharonbridgforth.com.
