Production photography: Ahad Subzwari. Courtesy The Shed.
minor b
minor b is a play at The Shed in the Hudson Yards, NYC. it’s an unfinished play about love. More specifically it’s a love letter to my lead actor Jim Fletcher, or perhaps it’s a love letter to the white downtown theatrical avantgarde of the early 2000’s or maybe it’s my swan song to the one who got away. The performance follows a Board Member at the Shed who falls in love with a much younger commissioned artist named Nile. Running parallel to this is a fictive gesture of a jazz musician, inspired by the cornetist, Buddy Bolden, who was New Orleans’ innovator of jazz until he went “mad” and spent the remainder of his life in a mental asylum. I’ll play the part of Buddy Bolden, I mean Nile, I mean Bolden and play the clarinet and tell you why I’ve gone mad. What did Solange say in the elevator? “There’s a lot to be mad about”. The black box theater can feel like a cage—I mean a stage. And sometimes these institutional invitations can feel like a trap. Why do I feel like I’m losing my mind? Maybe it’s because I love Him
Created by Nile Harris
Written and Directed by Nile Harris and Dyer Rhoads
Score and Sound Design by Kwami Winfield
Visual Design by Marie DeTesta, Dyer Rhoads, and Nile Harris
Performed by and created with The Company
Nile Harris
Jim Fletcher
Tony Jenkins
Ley(sis)
Jonah Rollins
Marie Detesta
For THE SHED
Stage Coordinator: Arianna Michel
Lighting Coordinator: Vittoria Orlando
Sound Coordinator: DJ Potts
Video/Projection Coordinator: Hao Bai
Production Coordinator: Stephen Arnold
minor b was commissioned by The Shed and presented in association with Ping Chong and Company. Development was made possible by Center for Performance Research, The Church in Sag Harbor, and 99 Canal.
Open Call Team
Alex Poots, Artistic Director
Darren Biggart, Director of Civic Programs
Dejá Belardo, Assistant Curator, Civic Programs and Visual Arts
Daisy Peele, Open Call Producer (Associate Producer at The Shed)
Christal Ferreira, Program Manager, Civic Programs and Visual Arts
Ben Young, Production Manager