After critical acclaim and strong word-of-mouth, Dahlak Brathwaite’s genre-defying dance-theater work Try/Step/Trip, choreographed by Toran Moore and directed by Roberta Uno, has extended its New York run by one week.
Originally scheduled as a three-week run, the production will now continue through Sunday, Feb. 1.
The limited engagement continues at The Jeffery and Paula Gural Theatre A.R.T./New York Theatres (502 W. 53rd St., New York, NY 10019).
Performances began Thursday, Jan. 8, and now continue through Sunday, Feb. 1. Opening Night was Saturday, Jan. 10.
Hailed by critics for its bold theatrical language and emotional immediacy, Try/Step/Trip has quickly emerged as one of Under the Radar Festival’s most talked-about works.
Hailed by critics for its bold theatrical language and emotional immediacy, Try/Step/Trip has quickly emerged as one of Under the Radar Festival’s most talked-about works.
“The piece blends movement, text, and music to explore identity, memory, and connection, inviting audiences into an experience that is both intimate and electrifying,” Brathwaite said. “The extension offers new opportunities for audiences and critics alike to experience the production, which has resonated strongly with dance and theatergoers seeking work that challenges form while remaining deeply human.”
Inspired by Brathwaite’s own history, Try/Step/Trip is a rite of passage orchestrated to save one of the justice system’s newest inductees from the ultimate plight of criminalization.
Brathwaite said Try/Step/Trip is “a high-powered theatrical mixtape that fuses spoken word, hip-hop, step, and ritual to tell the story of ‘Anonymous’, a young Black man navigating a court-mandated drug rehabilitation program and the larger systems shaping his identity.”
Guided and provoked by “The Conductor” and a chorus of fellow participants, Brathwaite said Anonymous is pushed through memories, music, and mythologies that reveal “the tension between who he is, who he’s told to be, and who he wants to become.
“As the group’s movement and storytelling intensify, from confessional meetings to ecstatic club nights to reimagined church rituals, the piece unravels the cycles of punishment, performance, and possibility embedded in America’s criminal justice and cultural narratives,” Brathwaite said. “Try/Step/Trip becomes a live excavation of Blackness, transformation, and the struggle to find freedom within and beyond the systems determined to define you.”
The production stars Tyrese Shawn Avery (Long Way Down – Olney Theatre Center), Dahlak Brathwaite, Jasmine Gatewood, Max Katz, Richard Perez Jr., Freddy Ramsey, Jr., Krystal Renee (Stomp -Off Broadway, World Tour), and Dante Rossi.
The production features lighting design by Sim Carpenter and Sound Engineering by Saida Joshua-Smith. The Stage Manager is Cassiel Fawcett, and Publicity and social media support by Katie Rosin/Kampfire PR.
Try/Step/Trip plays the following schedule through Sunday, Feb. 1: Jan. 28 – 8 p.m.; Jan. 29 – 8 p.m.; Jan. 30 – 8 p.m.; Jan. 31 – noon & 8 p.m.; and Feb. 1 – 1:30 p.m.
