A Theatrical Jazz Performance Installation 
Written & Composed by Sharon Bridgforth

Featuring Sonja Parks

Set on a juking boat in the Mississippi Delta, River See takes place mid ritual conjuring a world of blues women, queers, deviants and seers. River See is a prayer before the Great Migration to the North, experienced through the heart of SEE a young woman in training. 

River See is an exploration in Theatrical Jazz, a distinctive art form with multiple manifestations of expression. In this performance installation, the audience is invited to participate in the world of the performance as it is being “composed” live. 

Theatrical Jazz borrows many elements from the musical world of jazz—most notably a space for live improvisation of composition, ensemble synthesis, solo virtuosity, simultaneity, collaboration and audience participation. Turning the more traditional notion of theatrical performance on its side, River See invites its witnesses to find out what happens when we say yes to the power of shared experience.

River See is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation Fund Project co-commissioned by Links Hall in partnership with Living Arts of Tulsa,Diaspora Vibes Cultural Arts Incubator, The Theater Offensive and NPN. The Creation Fund is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). For more information: www.npnweb.org.

The Map Fund Awarded Pilsbury House Theatre a 2012 grant in support of River See. 

In this image: Sonja Parks / Photo by Travis Anderson, for River See at Pillsbury House Theatre 2013