In Chinese folklore, the Lady of Forgetfulness, Meng Po, feeds the souls of the deceased a soup, Waters of Oblivion (迷魂湯), to help them forget their previous lives before reincarnating into their next.

Meng Po serves as a gateway to ruminate over what ties us to the past, present, and future. Her role as the gatekeeper of memories and reincarnation reminds us that life does not dematerialize, but instead, always transitions and transforms. The piece asks participants to reconsider the nature of memory and loss in their own lives, stirring in cultural anecdotes, neuroscience, and interviews with loved ones. How do we hold space to communally recount and remember significant moments in our lives, and how does it alter all of us to do so?

During this time of seismic loss, when many traditional grieving rituals - communal gatherings, vigils, and funerals - have been unable to proceed as usual, this piece draws inspiration from ancestral rites, online platforms and communities, as well as research on catharsis, in order to reimagine and play with new rituals for the moment. Conceived as a multi-platform experience, Waters of Oblivion is an on-site/online hybrid experiential piece that wades deep into the underworld to observe what collectively emerges and what can be left behind.

Hybrid Arts Lab 2019, Theater Mitu

This piece was first developed during my fellowship with Theater Mitu’s Hybrid Arts Lab program. My collaborators Tina-Hanaé Miller, Elizabeth Sun, and Maya Simone Z., went into a 2-week devised process culminating in a work-in-progress showing at Mitu580.

Hybrid Arts Lab — An annual fellowship program is dedicated to supporting trans, non-binary, and femme identified artists working at the intersection of performance and technology. With a focus on artists of color, this program offers studio space, technical resources, training, and mentorship to a small cohort of early-career artists for the exploration, development, and expansion of a new process or work. The lab culminates in a series of in-process showings that invite our community into a conversation on process and innovation. Find out more here.