Can you be Black and not perform? Incorporating art gallery aesthetics and an electronic soul score, Eisa Davis performs a piece about performance, exploring the cultural techniques that make musical expression a kind of imprisonment – or a transcendent liberation.  

The Essentialisn’t was originally commissioned by Laura Kaminsky at Symphony Space with funding from the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation. The piece has been supported and developed by The Public Theater, The Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep, The Park Avenue Armory, Christopher Hibma at Sundance Theater Lab, New Georges, Performance Space New York, United States Artists Fellowship, Jack NY, and Creative Capital Foundation. 

Performances will take place on:

Wednesday, September 10 at 8:30pm 

Thursday, September 11 at 8:30pm 

Friday, September 12 at 8:30pm (Opening Night) 

Saturday, September 13 at 4pm 

Saturday, September 13 at 8:30pm

Sunday, September 14 at 8:30pm

Tuesday, September 16 at 8:30pm 

Wednesday, September 17 at 8:30pm

Thursday, September 18 at 8:30pm

Friday, September 19 at 8:30pm

Saturday, September 20 at 4pm

Saturday, September 20 at 8:30pm

Sunday, September 21 at 8:30pm

Tuesday, September 23 at 8:30pm

Wednesday, September 24 at 8:30pm

Thursday, September 25 at 8:30pm

Friday, September 26 at 8:30pm

Saturday, September 27 at 4pm

Saturday, September 27 at 8:30pm

Sunday, September 28 at 4pm

Sunday, September 28 at 8:30pm

Tickets: $30-$120  

Running Time: Approximately 70 minutes, with no intermission.