SOCIAL! the social distance dance club, commissioned by the Armory for its Social Distance Hall, is a new interactive and experiential movement piece conceived by choreographer Steven Hoggett, Tony Award-winning set designer Christine Jones—both of whom are currently Armory Artists-in-Residence—and multimedia artist and musician David Byrne (Talking Heads, David Byrne’s American Utopia on stage and film, and Reasons to be Cheerful). With a playlist curated by Byrne, Hoggett, and Jones and mixed by New York City DJ Natasha Diggs, SOCIAL! invites participants to the Armory’s Wade Thompson Drill Hall to dance in their own socially distanced spotlights, all while listening to a wonderfully singular instructional voice over by David Byrne with choreography by Yasmine Lee. Moving free-form or in sync with the spoken choreography, audience members take part in a communal moment of cathartic release.

After purchasing your ticket, you will receive an instructional dance video and welcome message from David Byrne. This event is for everyone—dancers and non-dancers.

Your Health and Safety Are Important to Us

• All audience members are pre-screened for COVID-19 and rapid-tested on site before entering the Drill Hall; anyone with a positive test leaves the building immediately
• Strict “no masks/no entry” policy
• Social distancing is rigorously enforced at all times
• All participants are individually spaced at least 12–15 feet apart
• All ticket scanning and temperature taking is contactless
• No gathering permitted in the building or on the sidewalks
• Air refreshing in the Drill Hall exceeds CDC and ASHRAE standards
• Restroom facilities are disinfected between each use

• Stay home if you are feeling sick
• Wear your mask properly at all times
• Respect social distancing of 6 feet at all times
• Follow the directions of the Armory staff
• Use hand-sanitizing stations provided throughout the building

• No personal belongings will be permitted in the Drill Hall. All personal belongings must be left in a secured waiting room.
• Participants are encouraged to arrive 1 hour before start time
• Because on-site testing takes 15 minutes, audience members will not be admitted to Park Avenue Armory within 20 minutes of the published start time

If health conditions do not permit the re-opening of the Armory on the dates noted, the performances will be canceled, all tickets will be immediately refunded, and if possible, the performances will be rescheduled.

For more detail, please read the Armory’s Health and Safety Protocols.

April 9–April 22, 2021

Previews:
Friday, April 9–Sunday, April 11, 2021
Performances:
Tuesday, April 13–Thursday, April 22, 2021

Tickets: $45 (plus fees)

Wade Thompson Drill Hall
A Social Distance Hall Production

SOCIAL! is approximately 55 minutes with no intermission. This is a solitary participatory dance experience unsuitable for children under 10. Strobe and intense flashing lights will be used during this experience.

Conceived by Steven Hoggett, Christine Jones and David Byrne
Made by Kevin Adams, David Byrne, Natasha Diggs, Justin Ellington, Sarita Fellows, Zoë Hurwitz, Steven Hoggett, Mara Isaacs, Christine Jones, and Yasmine Lee
Commissioned by Park Avenue Armory
Produced in association with Octopus Theatricals

Creative Team Biographies

Kevin Adams, Lighting Design

Kevin Adams has received 4 Tony Awards for his work on Broadway, which includes The Cher Show, Spongebob SquarePants, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, American Idiot, Next to Normal, The 39 Steps, Spring Awakening, Hair, Passing Strange, Everyday Rapture, Take Me Out, A Class Act, and Head Over Heels. Off-Broadway includes the original production of Hedwig, The Scottsboro Boys, Carrie, Rent, and new work by Tony Kushner, Edward Albee, Neil Simon, Terrence McNally and Christopher Durang. Opera: Metropolitan Opera (Rigoletto, L’amour de loin, Marnie, La traviata), New York City Opera, English National Opera. He has designed solo shows for Eric Bogosian, Anna Deveare Smith, Eve Ensler, Sandra Bernhard, John Leguizamo, and Michael Moore. His work has been seen on the West End often and has toured internationally.

David Byrne, Co-Creator

David Byrne is a musician, composer, and producer. Recent works include the Broadway debut of David Byrne’s American Utopia as well as the forthcoming Spike Lee directed film version, the launch of his Reasons to be Cheerful online magazine, and the solo album American Utopia. Byrne co-founded the band Talking Heads, for which he was the guitarist and lead singer, and established the record labels Luaka Bop and Todo Mundo. Other artistic achievements include the theatrical piece Joan of Arc: Into the Fire; a series of interactive environments questioning human perception and bias, The Institute Presents: NEUROSOCIETY; the theatrical production Here Lies Love; and the book How Music Works. Among his many laurels are Academy, Grammy, and Golden Globe awards.

Natasha Diggs, Playlist Curator

Natasha Diggs is a world-renowned DJ, producer, record enthusiast and Resident of New York City’s premiere dance party, Soul in The Horn. What started out as a deep love for music and collecting records in her teenage bedroom transformed into a life purpose of uplifting her community and liberating dance floors around the globe. Coined as the 45 Queen known for rockin’ parties with her signature 7-inch vinyl sets, Diggs has collaborated and played with artists such as Erykah Badu, Mark Ronson, Lauryn Hill, Anderson.Paak, Q-Tip, Roy Ayers, Patti Labelle, and many more.

Justin Ellington, Sound Design

Broadway Credits include: Other Desert Cities. Off-Broadway credits include: Heroes of the Fourth Turning (Playwrights Horizons); The Rolling Stone, Pass Over, Pipeline (Lincoln Center); Mrs. Murray’s Menagerie (Ars Nova/The Mad Ones); The House That Will Not Stand, Fetch Clay Make Man (New York Theatre Workshop); He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box, The Winter’s Tale (Theatre for a New Audience). Additional credits include: Familiar (Steppenwolf); Father Comes Home From the Wars, How to Catch Creation, Until the Flood (Goodman Theatre); Floyd’s, Trouble In Mind (The Guthrie); and Kill Move Paradise (Wilma Theatre). International credits include: As You Like It (Stratford Festival); The American Clock (The Old Vic); Over het IJ (Amsterdam); The Windybrow Arts Festival (Johannesburg). Awards: American Society of Composers and Publishers Award, Grammy Award, Cinema in Industry Award, Henry Hewes Award, Obie Award. justinellington.com

Sarita Fellows, Costume Design

Selected New York credits include: A Bright Room Called Day (The Public Theater); Native Son (The Acting Co); Original Sound (Cherry Lane Theater); Hatef**k (The Women’s Project); Macbeth, The Winter’s Tale, and Measure for Measure, (The Classical Theatre); A Chronicle of the Death of Two Worlds, (New York Theater Workshop); Fur, MUD, Prospect, and Fabuloso! (The Boundless Theater Co). Her regional credits include: Seize the King (Alliance Theater Co); Top Girls, and Her Portmaneau (A.C.T); The Royale (Arizona Theater Co); Ain’t Misbehavin’ (The Signature Theatre); Pipeline (Studio Theatre); The African School Girl Play (Pittsburgh Public Theater); Haunted Life (M.R.T.); Two Trains Running (Weston Playhouse); Berta Berta, A Late Morning with Reagan (C.A.T.F.); Having Our Say (Philadelphia Theater Co). Fellows is a Lecturer Princeton University and Associate Professor at Playwrights Horizons Theater School at New York University. She received her MFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Steven Hoggett, Co-Creator

Recent credits as Movement Director/ Choreographer include: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Broadway, West End, International); Angels in America (Broadway); The Crucible (Broadway); The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Royal National Theatre, West End, Broadway); The Last Ship (Broadway); Let The Right One In (National Theatre Scotland, St Anne’s Warehouse); Rocky: The Musical (Broadway); The Glass Menagerie (A.R.T., Broadway, EIF); Once (A.R.T., Broadway, West End); Peter and the Starcatcher (Broadway); American Idiot (Broadway); Ocean at The End of the Lane and The Light Princess (National Theatre); St Joan (Public); and as Associate Director / Movement, Black Watch (National Theatre Scotland, St Anne’s Warehouse). As Director, recent credits include: Close to You: Bacharach Reimagined (New York Theatre Workshop, West End). Hoggett was a director and founding member of Frantic Assembly Theatre Company, and with Scott Graham co-wrote The Frantic Assembly Book of Devising Theatre (Routledge).

Zoë Hurwitz, Design Associate

Zoë Hurwitz is a Set Designer who has worked in both the US and UK. Selected credits include: A Peregrine Falls at the Wild Project; The Hope Hypothesis at the Sheen Center; and Marie Antoinette at Brown/Trinity Rep. London credits include: The Five Plays Project (Director’s Program) at the Young Vic; We Anchor in Hope at The Bunker; and most recently as part of the design collective for Living Newspaper at the Royal Court. She was winner of a Linbury Award for Stage Design at the National Theatre in 2019. Hurwitz has an MFA from NYU and a BA in Fine Art from Chelsea School of Art, London. www.zoehurwitz.com

Mara Isaacs, Executive/Creative Producer for Octopus Theatricals

Mara Isaacs is a Tony® and Grammy® Award-winning producer, who eschews boundaries and fosters an expansive range of compelling theatrical works for local, national, and international audiences. She has produced over 150 productions which include: Hadestown (8 Tony Awards including Best Musical), The Inheritance, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Tony Award Best Play), Anna in the Tropics, Fiasco Theater’s Into The Woods, The Brother/Sister Plays, Crowns, and The Laramie Project. She is co-founder of Sing It Again Records, winning a Grammy award with their first release, the Original Broadway Cast Recording of Hadestown. Current projects include THEATRE FOR ONE, Dreaming Zenzile by Somi Kakoma, An Iliad starring Denis O’Hare, and many others. She previously served as Producing Director at McCarter Theater Center in Princeton, New Jersey and was an associate producer for Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles. She teaches at Cal Arts and Princeton University.

Christine Jones, Co-Creator

Christine Jones is a collaborative artist working in theater, opera, public art, and the digital realm. She is the Creator and Artistic Director of the critically acclaimed THEATRE FOR ONE, which has recently moved online with its own platform. She is a Director of one-of-a-kind experiences for companies like Rag ∧ Bone, and productions such as Queen of the Night (Drama Desk Award for Best Unique Experience). She is a Tony Award-winning Set Designer for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Pts I & II, as well as American Idiot. Other credits include: The Cher Show, Spring Awakening (Tony Nomination), and Let the Right One In (St. Ann’s Warehouse and West End). Opera designs include: La Traviata and Rigoletto (Met Opera). Currently, she is developing a digital experience with Radiohead. She has an Obie for Sustained Excellence in Design and teaches at NYU Tisch and Princeton University.

Yasmine Lee, Choreographer

Yasmine Lee is a movement artist who has worked across film, television, theater, music videos, the concert dance stage, events, and national commercials in over 30 countries. Select credits include: Broadway: Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, The Crucible, Once Musical, and Rent. Other: Katie Perry for SNL, The XXII Winter Olympic Games Opening Ceremonies, PEARL The Show, Brown Butterfly, Across The Universe (SONY Pictures), Margie Gillis’ Legacy Project, The Dunham Technique Video (Library Of Congress), Joan Peter’s Dance Co, MOMIX, Amici Di Maria De Filippi Season 9 (RAI TV), Issey Miyake product launch (Louvre Museum). Off Broadway: Wild Goose Dreams, Tender Napalm, Knives in Hens, and Sweeney Todd. Lee invites you to explore your deep groove, dance it out, and get free! Both the large expansive dance and the small intricate dance are full of infinite transformative potential.

How to Purchase Your Ticket

Step 1: Purchase ticket (only e-tickets are available).
Step 2: You will automatically receive a receipt for your ticket purchase, but not the ticket.
Step 3: 72 hours before the experience, you will receive a COVID-19 Screening Questionnaire. You and each member of your party must fill it out and submit it the day before your event to receive your e-ticket(s). If the completed questionnaire suggests any circumstance related to a possible COVID-19 infection, no ticket will be issued and the cost will immediately be refunded to the original payment method. The questionnaire will also contain a consent to be rapid-tested on site by Elevation Health.
Step 4: E-ticket(s) will be issued by email upon appropriate completion of the COVID-19 Screening Questionnaire.

Entry to the Armory for this event will not be on Park Avenue. Please enter on Lexington Avenue near East 66th Street.