What is passed down to us by our environment? How do we live with what we inherit? What is considered hereditary? What defines a lineage, and is it always bound by blood? By disposition? By tragedy? Ray's investigation into the history and mismanagement of Newtown Creek with collaborator Dena Igusti, poses these questions as we look towards the future of creating cleaner and more equitable waterways. In this presentation, Ray and Dena will showcase parts of their documentary piece about Newtown Creek and detail their personal experiences with the waterfront. Utilizing archival photographs of past and present they interrogate what it means to "inherit" the mistakes of the past and what can be done to fix them in the future.
This presentation is an introduction to Ray and Dena’s Tending the Edge project.
About the Artists
Ray Jordan Achan (he/him/his), Culture Push Associated Artist is an Indo-Caribbean, Brooklyn based actor, director, writer and producer. Ray is the Founding Artistic Director of EXILED TONGUES, a performance collective that provides financial, artistic and collaborative support to QTBIPOC artists who center diasporic consciousness. He is the recipient of the Pet Project Grant sponsored by Jeremy O’Harris and the Bushwick Starr for his play, Free Fallin’. Ray directed the World Premiere Off-Broadway production of SHARUM written by Mohammad Murtaza and Dena Igusti at the Player’s Theater. Recently, Ray directed CUT WOMAN, written by Dena Igusti and premiered at the Prelude NYC 2020 Festival. Future projects: Ray is directing his original play Free Fallin’ which is set to premiere at the Hudson Guild Theater in Fall 2021. Additionally, Ray is directing La Violecion of My PapiYon, an original play written by Arline Pierre-Louis. rayjordanachan.com | exiledtongues.com.
Dena Igusti is a queer enby Indonesian Muslim writer and multimedia artist born & raised in Queens. They are the author of CUT WOMAN (Game Over Books, 2020) and a 2021 Rogue Theater Festival Playwright-in-Residence. They have performed at The Brooklyn Museum, Lincoln Center, and more.