Made to Dance in Burning Buildings is about Ava, a young black woman, who is raped by her boyfriend’s friends while he watches; she develops PTSD as a result. Metaphorically, she fractures into five different women who each represent a different facet of her personality (Romance, Despair, Madness, Perseverance, and Missing You). Poetically, these women narrate her journey through PTSD while she, her first love, and her abusers explore through dance the trauma and the events leading up to it.

Based on a true story, and inspired by the original choreopoem, Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls, the play seeks to revolutionize the theatrical experience by combining poetry, and gut wrenching contemporary dance, to tell an all too familiar story in a brand-new way.

Written by Anya Pearson
Directed by Jamie M. Rea
Choreographed by Emily Bufferd
Produced by Urban Haiku

The cast includes Jennean Farmer (Blue Print Specials/The Public Theatre), Anya Pearson (Made to Dance in Burning Buildings creator), and Monique Sanchez (Drunk Shakespeare/Meme Juice Productions). The production features dancers Shannon Giles (Dance Captain/Celebrity Cruises Productions), and Jordon Waters (LUX Experience/Abrons Art Center). Additional cast members to be announced in March.