Each spring the MCA presents On Stage, a suite of performance works connected by a rigorous and relevant curatorial theme. In 2023, the series focuses on the frictions that exist in a society shaped by race—and the transformative power of productive resistance.

Frictions presents performances by three artists—Will Rawls, Shamel Pitts | TRIBE, and Barak adé Soleil—who explore blackness through bodily movement. Through in-person performances as well as performance-driven video installations, their works engage themes including queer intimacy, disabled bodies in motion and at rest, and the relationship between animation, race, and history. Defying conventional notions of blackness, queerness, movement, dance, and performance, Frictions invites both audiences and performers to engage with the productive tensions that emerge through each work.