Edgar Arceneaux, Until, Until, Until . . .
October 17, 20247:30 pm
October 18, 20247:30 pm
October 19, 20247:30 pm
The October 18 performance includes an artist Q&A after the show.
About the Performance
Edgar Arceneaux is a contemporary artist working in Los Angeles, whose primary materials are histories and memories marred by gaps in logic, clichés, and erasures. Working within these gaps, Arceneaux applies a surreal, dream-like lens to pry open the messy contents of history, and pull what we think we already know into new shapes.
Arceneaux’s live performance Until, Until, Until . . . restages Broadway legend Ben Vereen’s infamous 1981 blackface performance at Ronald Reagan’s inaugural gala, and its aftermath. As an homage to vaudevillian Bert Williams, one of America’s first mainstream Black entertainers, Ben Vereen performed a moving tribute to Williams on national television, donned in blackface make up, as was required of Black vaudevillian performers in the early 20th century. In the first half of his performance, Vereen performed a song and dance routine in the vaudevillian style. The second half of his show contained biting commentary about the history of Black performance in the US, assimilation into white norms, and white supremacy, but woefully, that section was edited out of the national broadcast, leading to a national outrage and Vereen’s career derailment. Vereen was never allowed to tell his side of the story . . . until now.
A multilayered, abstract fever dream of a play, Arceneaux’s Until, Until, Until . . . invites audiences to directly experience Vereen’s censored performance, deemed too dangerous to air on national television.
Edgar Arceneaux’s Until, Until, Until . . . was commissioned by Performa and MIT’s Vera List Visual Arts Center for the Performa 15 Biennial. Now, 10 years since its debut, this restaging is an opportunity to reflect on what’s changed in the years since.
The MCA presentation is organized by Laura Paige Kyber, Assistant Curator of Performance.
Note: This performance begins with a cocktail hour inside the theater.
Immerse yourself in the world of the performance while listening to a vaudeville-era playlist. Audience members are welcome to arrive up until the performance officially kicks off at 8:30 pm. Light snacks and drinks for audiences age 21 and over are available for purchase. The performance has a run time of 50 minutes.
A post-show Q&A with Edgar Arceneaux immediately follows the performance on Friday, October 18.
Access Information
Seating is general admission. Some seats include access to café tables, and will be offered first-come, first-served. If you need mobility assistance, please speak with an MCA staff member.
English CART captioning and audio description are available for the performance on Friday, October 18.
About the Artists
Edgar Arceneaux. Photo: Sage Causie.
Edgar Arceneaux (b. 1972, Los Angeles) works in the fields of drawing, sculpture, installation, performance, and video; often exploring connections between historical events and present-day truths. Arceneaux has had solo exhibitions at The Kitchen (NYC), Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; the Vera List Center at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; and Museum für Gegenwartskunst in Basel, Switzerland; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Linz, Austria. His work has also been presented at the Museum of Modern Art (NYC), Bronx Museum, Performa 15, the Whitney Museum, Astrup Fearnley Museum of Art in Oslo, San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts, among other venues. Arceneaux’s work has been collected at the Whitney Museum, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Ludwig Museum, Cologne; Walker Art Center; Minneapolis Institute of Art; Orange County Museum of Art, and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Arceneaux attended the California Institute of the Arts (MFA, 2001), Fachhochschule Aachen (2000), the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (1999), and Art Center College of Design (BFA, 1996).
Frank Lawson – Actor/Ben Vereen
Actor-singer-writer Frank Lawson was born in West Palm Beach, FL. He graduated from SMU Meadows School with a BFA in both Theatre and Advertising. He has appeared on screen in Mind Your Business, Wild West Chronicles, and General Hospital, and plays the voice of wrestler R-Truth in Seth Green’s animated series CAMP WWE. He plays Jackson in the film Designed By Preeti slated to premiere in late 2024. He starred in Marilyn The Musical at Paris Hotel in Las Vegas and played Ben Vereen in Edgar Arceneaux’s play Until, Until, Until . . . , which won the top honor at Performa 15. He also crooned in the one-man musical Songs From An Unmade Bed, sang with Jennifer Nettles in Mamma Mia at the Hollywood Bowl, and toured Asia in RENT. His other credits include Porgy and Bess, Hair, The Who’s Tommy, and Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. He co-wrote and performed in The Mirror Is You at Nuit Blanche 2024 in Paris and is currently writing City Skyline, a new musical featuring songs from his songwriter’s catalog. He is a recipient of LA Ovation and NAACP Awards for his portrayal of Billy Strayhorn in When Jazz Had The Blues. Lawson has shared stages with legends Debbie Allen, Ben Vereen, Michelle Lee, Bernadette Peters, Ossie Davis and Grammy winner Angelique Kidjo. His Instagram handle is @thefranklawson.
Jes Dugger – Actress/Marie Osmond
Jes Dugger starred as Marie Osmond in Until, Until, Until . . . during the play’s development phase as well as its New York City premiere in 2015 and is thrilled to be rejoining this special production. Jes is based in NYC where she performs comedy. You may have seen her in a commercial or as “Merlene” in Awkwafina is Nora From Queens. Her TV credits include Better Call Saul, Homeland, Bull, and Blacklist. SAG-AFTRA/AEA. Many thanks to Edgar, Frank, the extremely talented production team, and the MCA for this gift of an opportunity.
Ratri Anindyajati – Producer
Ratri Anindyajati is an independent producer for the arts, managing national and international tours and representing both Indonesian and international artists globally. Ratri currently sits as Director for the Indonesian Dance Festival (IDF), Jakarta’s first international contemporary dance festival. Artists she represents include Didik Nini Thowok (Indonesia) and Edgar Arceneaux (USA). Her projects include dance, theater, arts festivals, exhibitions, and independent films. She has a bachelor’s in political science from Parahyangan Catholic University (Bandung-Indonesia) and in 2017 she graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in creative producing and management from the Theater Department from California Institute of the Arts (Los Angeles-USA).
Production Manager – Xiaoyue Zhang
Xiaoyue Zhang is a Chinese interdisciplinary artist, production manager, and creative producer working at the intersection of performance, dance, photography, and film. Her performance, producing, and production management works have been shown at institutions nationally and internationally, including the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, the Getty Villa, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, REDCAT, LA Performance Practice, Nuit Blanche Paris 2024, AFROPUNK Festival 2023, Hollywood Fringe Festival, and Guangdong Museum of Art (China). She is currently a producing fellow at the Tank NYC and the Director of Performance Lab at the Orchard Project.
Stage Manager – John Freeland, Jr.
John Freeland, Jr. is a production and stage manager who has been involved in productions and events in the United States and Europe with projects including dance and theater productions, jazz festivals, theater festivals (Croatia, Scotland), award shows, and concerts, including Shanghai Sonatas: A New Musical in Concert (conducted by Noreen Green) and Le Dernier Sorcier (The Last Sorcerer) 1867 at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. John is a board member of the Unusual Suspects Theater Company, whose mission is to mentor, educate, and enrich youth in under-resourced communities through the creation of collaborative, original theater. He attended Wesleyan University in his hometown of Middletown, CT.
Lighting Supervisor – Omar Madkour
Omar Madkour is a Lighting Designer from Cairo, Egypt, and is currently based in Los Angeles. Recent shows include God Will Do The Rest at LATC; Mr. Romantic and Inherit The Wind at Pasadena Playhouse; and Medea Refracted at the Getty Villa, as well as numerous dance shows with Heidi Duckler Dance. Omar’s experience in lighting includes live performance, museums, themed entertainment, and architectural lighting.
Costume Supervisor – Eve Thomas
Eve Thomas is a Los Angeles-based multi-hyphenate creative with over a decade of experience in the fashion industry, excelling in product development, apparel, and accessories design. Eve earned her AA in fashiondesign from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles and her BFA in fashion merchandising from Academy of Art in San Francisco. She has worked with start-up brands like Alina Pizzzano Couture Bridal and Kinona, as well as well-known companies like Rip N Dip and Brighton. Apart from design and development, Eve is building her creative direction portfolio and focusing on collaborative work with other artists.
Video Designer – Hsuan-kuang Hsieh
Hsuan-Kuang Hsieh is a Taiwanese multimedia artist currently based in Los Angeles. Her work spans experimental film, projection art, and video installation. As a projection designer, she collaborates with entertainment companies and theaters, creating visual experiences for live performances. Her recent credits and awards include Tacos La Brooklyn (Latino Theater Co., Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle nomination), The Great Jheri Curl Debate (East West Players, Stage Raw Award), Letters From Home (Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Elliot Norton Awards nomination), The Far Country (Berkeley Repertory Theater), The Wedding Banquet Musical (Taipei Performance Art Center). She received her MFA at California Institute of the Arts. Her website is HsuanKuang.com.
About RARARA!
Rarara! is an interdisciplinary, international ensemble of artists, designers, and performers convened by artist Edgar Arceneaux and producer Ratri Anindyajati. It is the umbrella project for Edgar Arceneaux’s live performance works, which started with Arceneaux’s first theatrical production, Until, Until, Until . . . in 2015. An international, majority African American and Asian ensemble, Rarara! pushes the boundaries of visual and performing arts practices by telling stories that explore the blurry lines between past and present, history and fantasy. The ensemble’s practice is rooted in community engagement and cultural hybridity.
Funding
Lead support for the 2024–25 season of MCA Performance is provided by Elizabeth A. Liebman.
Generous support is provided by Ginger Farley and Bob Shapiro, Martha Struthers Farley and Donald C. Farley, Jr. Family Foundation, N.A., Trustee; Anne L. Kaplan; and Carol Prins and John Hart/The Jessica Fund.
The MCA is a proud member of the Museums in the Park and receives major support from the Chicago Park District.