Dean Moss: johnbrown

Steeped in a childhood of grassroots organizing and pitched campaigns, multidisciplinary artist Dean Moss draws from an intimate and varied history with activism to create johnbrown, a dark, wry meditation on the legacy of the white 19th-century abolitionist. The result of three years of research,johnbrown layers live choreography and text with video performances of an original script by Thomas Bradshaw and a score by Stephen Vitiello. Moss also incorporates a group of locally cast teenagers as production assistants. Presented in seven semi-autonomous segments titled after individual articles of John Brown’s Provisional Constitution of 1858, johnbrown melds an immersive audio/visual design and rigorous physicality with a disruptive impressionistic performance structure.

johnbrown is presented in collaboration with CounterCurrent — a festival of bold experimental art occupying unexpected sites in the city of Houston, presented by the University of Houston Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts.

FREE, but seating is limited. Reservations are encouraged and can be made online through the CounterCurrent web site beginning March 17.