Reasons to get excited for “Maggie the Cat”:
Learn more about Trajal Harrel and The Schauspielhaus Zürich Dance Ensemble.
Recommended readings to get you in gear for the show.
Kemi Adeyemi, Kareem Khubchandani, Ramón H. Rivera-Servera, editors, Queer Nightlife. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press, 2021.
Ramsay Burt, The Male Dancer: Bodies, Spectacle, Sexualities. New York: Routledge, 2022.
“Through rhythmic juxtaposition and perfect pacing, [Harrell] creates alternating states of chaos and calm, of joy and excitement, bewilderment and bathos.”
“For Maggie the Cat, the individual (the upholstery, the fashion, the act) is exploded, explored through the body of the company, ‘our help.’”
“Applause doesn’t seem quite enough; it’s a thrilling work, both free and beautifully structured, profound and exhilarating.”
Harrell makes nuanced use of a wide range of influences, from Tennessee Williams to Sophocles to the Harlem voguing underground. Spend some time with each of these inspirations before the show.
Williams based “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” off of his own short story, published several years before the premiere of the play – find an earlier iteration of Brick & Maggie in the archive.
This contemporary adaptation of Sophocles’ “Antigone” was part of the 2019 NYU Skirball Book Club – learn more about it & read an excerpt.
Learn more about other shows you might enjoy this season at NYU Skirball.
Learn more about other shows with related themes.
Learn more about other shows with related themes.