On Saturday October 5th, the stage at Zoellner Arts Center was set with a beautiful curved ramp that came to a peak at its far right corner and leveled out as it reached to the left, like a dock extending into an ocean. The ramp was an integral part of Descent, a disability arts performance created by Kinetic Light. Included in the lineup for Touchstone Theatre’s Festival Unbound, Descent prioritized accessibility by incorporating dancers that utilized wheelchairs and by ensuring equitable accommodations to the show for its audience. While Descent’s performance at the Zoellner Arts Center has passed, the show is going on tour and is scheduled to take the stage in Lincoln, NE in 2025.
Descent is a two act disability arts performance that tells the story of Venus and Andromeda. In Roman mythology, Venus is a goddess born from the sea, and becomes well known for her beauty, while in Greek mythology Andromeda is a noble woman whose mother claims her to be more beautiful than the sea. This claim angers Poseidon, the god of the Sea, and he floods their city. These two unconnected mythical figures are brought together by Kinetic Light’s interpretation of Auguste Rodin’s Toilette of Venus and Andromeda. Rodin’s 1886 sculpture casts Andromeda clinging to what appears to be a cliff or ledge and presents Venus as looking up to the heavens with her hands on her head. In the sculpture, the pair look distressed and tension seems to rule their relationship. Kinetic Light incorporates this tension throughout Descent while also evolving it into a complex interracial love story that centers queerness and disability.
In recreating the story of Venus and Andromeda, Kinetic Light articulates the complexities of desire and intimate connection. Venus, played by Laurel Lawson, and Andromeda, played by Alice Sheppard, navigate their emotional connection by continuously joining and separating throughout the performance. Moving with the ramp’s curves and edges, the pair cling to its peak the way they cling to each other, yet also repel off its side in moments of tension and disconnection. In addition to the beauty of the evolving relationship between Venus and Andromeda as shown through Lawson and Sheppard’s coupled dancing, Kinetic Light’s Descent includes an emotional display of light, engineered by Michael Mang, that shifts as the connection between the two characters changes. In times of despair for the two characters, the light in the production turns a deep, dark blue, emphasizing the characters’ struggle in maintaining their relationship. Likewise, in moments of realization and immense joy, the lights brighten quickly and sharply in a manner that demands the audience’s attention.
In addition to bringing to life a mythical love story, Descent “counters the erasure of race in Western European histories of art,” an important aspect of the performance that Sheppard articulates in Descent’s playbill. Andromeda is canonically Ethiopian, yet has been continuously portrayed as white in artworks. Kinetic Light’s rendition of the love story casts Sheppard, a black disabled dancer, as Andromeda, effectively recognizing and honoring Andromeda’s African ancestry.
The emotional honesty and devotion to equity is at the forefront of Kinetic Light’s mission. According to their website, the disability arts ensemble “creates, performs, and teaches at the nexus of access, queerness, disability, dance, and race.” Descent, in combating the racist erasure of Andromeda’s identity, also teaches audiences to honor an individual’s identity. Continuing this work towards inclusivity, Kinetic Light creates accessible shows for their audiences. As a practice, this includes having an ASL interpreter on stage throughout the performance, an audio description of the show, as well as an increased amount of accessible seating. They also provide a haptic soundtrack, which utilizes vibrations so that the music can be enjoyed by touch. These accommodations are crucially available during Descent in order to ensure that accessibility is addressed in the theater and not just on stage.
Kinetic Light’s commitment to accessibility and equity pairs effectively with the mission of Festival Unbound. Created by Touchstone Theatre in 2019, Festival Unbound is a five-day arts festival that explores the identity of the Bethlehem community after the closing of Bethlehem Steel. While the Bethlehem Steel plant was operational, it employed a large percentage of the city’s population. After the plant stopped producing steel in 1995 and was closed in 2003, the Bethlehem community found itself stripped of its economic core and civic identity. Festival Unbound aims to highlight the current identity of Bethlehem by exploring how the community has developed in the last 20 years. Organizing arts-infused performances and workshops, Festival Unbound highlights the diverse community of Bethlehem and emphasizes that, even in the wake of Bethlehem Steel’s closing, the community does still exist and deserves to be recognized.
Festival Unbound and Kinetic Light’s Decent work together to prioritize accessibility for the local Bethlehem community and in the process positively recognize the diverse identities living in the city. Descent, in its beautiful portrayal of the love story between Venus and Andromeda through disability arts performance, emphasizes the importance of centering diverse stories and abilities on the stage, and providing equitable access to art for all. Importantly, they ensure accommodations are available to their audience members as the performance is happening, ensuring that real equity is being practiced. In this way, the power of the love on stage transcends to include the audience for a community building, impactful event.
To learn more about Kinetic Light’s ensemble, as well as the various shows they perform, visit their website Kinetic Light.
To explore upcoming local shows visit Touchstone Theatre.
