When: May 4–19, 2019, 11 AM and 1 PM, Saturdays and Sundays
Where: U.S. Immigration Station, Angel Island State Park, San Francisco, CA
Price: $30–$60
Tags: #immersivetheatre, #sitespecific, #dance, #immigration, #ContactAdvisory (see below)
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Lenora Lee Dance, with Asian Improv Arts, API Cultural Center & Chinese Historical Society of America, today announce performances of Within These Walls (2017) and the World Premiere of its sequel, Dreams of Flight, both site-responsive, immersive, multimedia dance works created for and performed at the U.S. Immigration Station, Angel Island State Park in the San Francisco Bay. Inspired by experiences of those detained and processed at the Station, Within These Walls and Dreams of Flight transform and animate the historic barracks into sites for remembrance of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, speaking to the power of individuals and communities to transcend.
For Within These Walls and Dreams of Flight audiences will travel by ferry to Angel Island, walk or shuttle to the Immigration Station, follow the performers along the grounds of the Station, and journey within a labyrinth of rooms throughout the historic two-story Immigration Center buildings, experiencing intimate interactive environments, a tapestry of movement, sound, poetry and film integrated on the surfaces inside and outside the building and within the walls. “These performances are dedicated to the 170,000 Chinese who were detained, interrogated and processed at the Station between 1910–1940 as a result of the Chinese Exclusion Act, which tore families apart and resulted in a mass incarceration experience that forever stamps the experience of Chinese in America,” explains Lenora Lee, Artistic Director of Lenora Lee Dance. She adds, “Three of my grandparents were processed on Angel Island and through my research I found many stories like theirs of being separated, imprisoned and kept in a kind of limbo while their status was being determined by authorities tasked with keeping Chinese out of the U.S.”
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the first piece of legislation used to keep immigrants out of the U.S. and set precedence for laws and quotas to follow, not unlike current legislative actions and executive orders aimed at reducing immigration from various countries. The Chinese Exclusion Act and related restrictive and racist legislation wasn’t reversed until the passing of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which abolished the National Origins Formula, restricting immigration on the basis of existing proportions of the population. Current restrictive immigration policies, including the 2017 Executive Order 13769, commonly known as the “Muslim Ban,” as well as the federal practice of family separation at the U.S. Mexico border bare chilling similarities to these historic policies. “I’m hoping audiences gain a more compassionate understanding of what happened then and recognize how it’s still happening now,” adds Lee.
From 1910 to 1940, Angel Island was the site of an Immigration Station that functioned as the West Coast equivalent of Ellis Island, although the Angel Island facility also enforced policies designed to exclude, rather than welcome, many Pacific Coast immigrants coming from 82 countries. The processing time for most in the Station was two to three days, however for Chinese, the average was three weeks to three months of detention. One individual spent 22 months in the station.
In 1970, the site was slated for demolition because of its deteriorated condition; but the discovery of Chinese poetry that had been carved into the walls of the detention barracks saved it from destruction and led to renewed interest in the Angel Island Immigration Station. It increased awareness of the need to access the vivid lessons of sacrifice and triumph in the history of immigration. As a result of a broad advocacy campaign, funding was secured to preserve the site and to open the barracks to the public in 1983. Out of the community campaign the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF) was founded to continue preservation and educational efforts for the site, and to increase awareness of the contributions Pacific Coast immigrants make.
The mission of the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF) is to promote a greater understanding of Pacific Coast immigration and its role in shaping America’s past, present and future. In partnership with the California State Parks, AIISF educates the public about the complex story and rich cultural heritage of Pacific Coast immigrants and their descendants. https://www.aiisf.org
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Office facilities provided by Thymele Arts, in Los Angeles, CA.
Contact Level: Possible light contact.
Content Advisories: None.
Mobility Advisories: There are ADA accessible routes through the station for those on walker and wheelchairs . Audience with special needs should contact LLD prior to the performance date and someone can be made available to guide these people through the routes.
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