Live Performance: the dance floor, the hospital room, and the kitchen table

the dance floor, the hospital room, and the kitchen table is a theatrical ritual of memory, a queer séance, and a reckoning with history that refuses to stay in the past. Blending live performance with archival audio, this intimate and electrifying work follows three queer researchers as they wade through the voices of those lost to—and those who survived—the HIV/AIDS epidemic. As they listen, dance, and debate, the archive begins to pulse around them, refusing to be forgotten. Part ghost story, part love letter, and part urgent call to remember, this performance asks: How do we honor our ghosts while also fighting for the living?

Future Ghost is a performance ensemble lead by Lyam B. Gabel and Joseph Amodei that creates media-integrated work exploring intimacy, memory, and futurity. Blending performance and new media, we craft immersive, deeply felt experiences that explore the ways technology shapes connection, storytelling, and presence. Our work invites audiences into shared moments of reflection and transformation, fostering what we call ‘epic intimacy’—a sense of closeness created through, rather than in spite of, mediation.

Developed with support from The Drama League, Lehigh University, and commissioned by the National Performance Network Creation Fund with Chatham University’s Immersive Media Department and the New Orleans Contemporary Arts Center.