After returning to in-person programming with last December’s Housewarming Festival, 4615 Theatre Company (recent winner of the John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre) will next present tempered (July 29-August 6), an original cabaret created and performed by Shaquille Stewart, Alani Kravitz, Jordanna Hernandez, and Jordan Friend, and centered around the theme of rage: both in its potency and its limitations. Featuring a rotating series of special guest performers, the cabaret will premiere at the Dance Loft on 14, where 4615’s production of Museum 2040 was halted mid-run at the start of the pandemic.
Over the course of 80 minutes, the performers will interrogate their own relationship with rage, and all of its sibling emotions, through an eclectic mix of songs, spoken word, and movement, including their own original material. “Returning to the site where our last pre-COVID show was disrupted feels perfect for this new piece,” said Friend, who is also the company’s founder. “For me, anger and frustration often come from a feeling of helplessness, of having the rug pulled from under us, so there is something so cathartic about going back to where everything changed, and making a lot of noise.”
Co-creators and performers Jordanna Hernandez and Alani Kravitz noted the benefits of devoting a cabaret to a unique emotional focus. “Oftentimes, we hold back our rage — it’s ‘taboo,’ it’s ‘aggressive’,” said Hernandez, who has previously appeared with 4615 in such productions as the world premiere of The Infinite Tales. “Anger is energy. And that energy can transform into power and that power creates change.”
Kravitz, who has appeared with 4615 in productions such as Dinner and the world premiere of Separate Rooms, added, “I am thrilled to be performing for the first time in two and a half years. I’m equally thrilled to be doing a cabaret where we explore how rage can be such a multifaceted emotion. It’s like therapy, both in practice and performance.”
The show will be accompanied by an emotionally driven lighting design by Dean Leong, whose work has previously dazzled 4615 audiences in productions such as The Infinite Tales and Museum 2040. In addition to the core performers, each of the cabaret’s five performances will feature a guest appearance from a local artist, to be announced in the coming weeks.
Co-creator and performer Shaquille Stewart, who previously appeared with 4615 in The Infinite Tales and Museum 2040, commented on what the project means to him personally. “I had an epiphany recently, about why I do what I do (this) art I guess, it’s to reach out to others, to somehow reflect something they might be feeling that I might’ve felt before. Anger, joy, defeat — whatever, but no matter the feeling, that my art might reach someone, and make them feel, I hope it magnifies the humanity within both of us. In us all. In my eyes, That’s what this project is about.”
Running Time: Approximately 80 minutes.
tempered plays from July 29 to August 6, 2022, presented by 4615 Theatre performing at Dance Loft on 14, 4618 14th Street NW, Washington, DC. Tickets ($25, $18 for patrons under 30) can be purchased online. A limited number of Pay-What-You-Can tickets are also available. Note that the Dance Loft is up a flight of stairs, and not wheelchair accessible at this time.
COVID Safety: All audience members must provide proof of vaccination for COVID-19 at the door and masks are required.
tempered
An Original Cabaret
Created and Performed by Shaquille Stewart, Alani Kravitz, Jordanna Hernandez, and Jordan Friend
GETTING THERE: The historic Dance Loft on 14 is located near 14th Street and Crittenden, a few miles south of Military Road. Street parking is fairly easy to come by, and there are a number of public transit options.
Bus: S1, S2, S4, S9 (Express) lines connecting 16th Street, Downtown DC, and Silver Spring; 52, 53, 54 lines connecting 16th Street, Downtown DC, and Takoma Park (Take Buchanan Street stop)
Capital Bikeshare: station at 14th and Crittenden
Metro: 1-Mile walk from Columbia Heights and Petworth
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
Friday, July 29 @8pm
Saturday, July 30 @8pm
Friday, August 5 @8pm
Saturday, August 6 @3pm and 8pm
ABOUT THE COMPANY
4615 Theatre began when a group of emerging artists staged a Jacobean tragedy in multiple rooms of a suburban home. In just a few years since, the company has rapidly expanded from backyards and basements into a thriving professional theater, a hub for both reinvigorated classics and ferociously bold new works. 4615 creates “inverted epics”: large, narrative-driven stories brought to new life in an up-close setting. In 2020, the company won the John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre
