Ghost Lights

When theatres, clubs, and bars shuttered their doors back in March, Michael-Birch Pierce and their fellow drag queens took to the streets - literally. Also: After growing up in the Philippines, Francis Tanglao Aguas realized that he’d spent a lot of time on colonized soil. That’s why he founded Aguas Arts Ink, a digital theatre collective dedicated to decolonizing the body and mind. Then: How do you dance in a space that technically doesn’t exist? Dancer and choreographer Scotty Hardwig answers this riddle using motion-sensing technology, creating what he calls “Dance Sci-fi.” Later in the show: Every year high schools put on “The Wizard of Oz” and every year someone gets stuck playing Aunt Em. Joshua Rashon Streeter and Jessica Harris make a case for going beyond the canon with youth theatre, and why kids should play kids. Plus: Fever, shortness of breath, loss of taste and/or smell… we know the symptoms by heart. Still, almost a year into the pandemic, there are certain things a COVID test can’t detect. In her play Symptomatic: IRL, Brittney Harris explores the more abstract side effects of the virus.