HENRY HUDSON'S FORGOTTEN MAPS June 12/14, 2009

The Henry Hudsons Forgotten Maps project performed by Harmattan Theater June 12 and 14, 2009 is a site specific installation/performance performed on the Eastern shore of Governor's Island.  The dramatic panoramic backdrop of a spectacular stretch of beach, the Brooklyn Bridge, the cityscape of Brooklyn dockyards, and the crescendo of pounding waves provided the mise en scene for this piece about history, maps, ghosts and indigenous rights.  Using the historic archives of the Dutch East India Company and the ethnographic implications of the sale of Governors Island for the price of 2 axeheads, a handful of nails and some white beads, the piece explores the connections between the historic past and our urban future.  Drawing upon traditions of Odissi dancing and Tango concertina, as well as the ecstatic carnatic vocal traditions of bhakti music, the performance opened up the striations of time and space through the poetry of Dante Aligheri's Fifth Canto from The Divine Comedy.  The ghost of Henry Hudson threads through the performance as a mournful presence in search of arrival, haunting the shores of New York City with his ghostly travels.  Grounding the movements of long duration strung across the long boundaries of the island, were the drawings on the ground in milk, sugar, and egg whites, done by Victoria Marshall and Jose De Jesus.  The performance involved 10 cast members including Adam Lelyveld, Carol Mathews-Nicoli, Lisabeth During, Martine Gak, James Cascaito, Puma Perl, Latha Ramprasad, Nandini Sikand.  Directed by May Joseph.