almost is an interactive performance & installation with an ever-changing environment examining ways we see each other and ourselves. Conceived and directed by Donna Costello, almost is created in collaborative co-authorship with Larry Jackson, Jennifer Paar, Stacy Lynn Smith, and C. Tai Tai. 

In response to our pandemic era, almost begins with a communal invitation to create and reflect together on who we are now, inviting viewers to have choice on what and how they see.

Three performers (Costello, Smith, and C. Tai Tai) steer separate narratives, unraveling internally-imposed and outwardly-enforced identities, as their bodies contort, adapt, destroy, and transform over time.  Costumes are integral, designed by Jennifer Paar, as they direct the embodied work by caging, covering, and revealing the performers with layers of paper, tulle, and Mylar. Visual designer Larry Jackson responds in real-time, manipulating large frames in space and asking the audience “to look,” offering an opportunity to confront personal perspectives, societal constraints, and the shimmering possibilities of revolution. 

Photo: Sam Horvath