We began by studying immobility. We pretended our bodies were cars, and imitated the patterns of a chase and an accident. We pretended we were dancers, and imitated the patterns of a dance. We pretended we were machines, and people learning how to behave like people. We collected words about phantom childhoods. We fashioned a narrow performance space, angled askew, with no parallel in the world: part Chevrolet insignia, part Libeskind passageway. We have discovered a performance by making it, with the following ideas at its heart: the construction of memory, the aftermath of historical destruction, the place of nature, the way one might learn to love the world, the way one might say to oneself, "I am not afraid."

It's an Earthquake in My Heart was commissioned by Wiener Festwochen (Vienna Festival), Arnolfini Live (Bristol, UK), Kampnagel (Hamburg, Germany) and Podewil (Berlin, Germany).

Created by: Karen Christopher, Matthew Goulish, Lin Hixson (director), Mark Jeffery, Bryan Saner

Commissioned by: Wiener Festwochen (Vienna Festival), Arnolfini Live (Bristol, UK), Kampnagel (Hamburg, Germany), Podewil (Berlin, Germany).

Performance History