Out-FRONT! Fest. 2027 Presenting: Darvejon A. Jones & Same as Sister

A Festival presented by Pioneers Go East Collective: Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte, Remi Harris, Philip Treviño, and Alexa Grae
About this Event

Out-FRONT! Fest. A Festival curated by Pioneers Go East Collective and presented in partnership with Judson Memorial Church.

Out-FRONT! Fest is a new dance, performance art, and film festival championing the voices of LGBTQ+ and Feminist artists for a lively exchange of art and culture. The Out-FRONT! Festival 2026 is curated by Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte, Philip Treviño, Remi Harris, and Joyce Isabelle. The Festival features award-winning artists who enlighten, entertain and promote conversations around aesthetic diversity and personal journeys on the intersection of mutual ideas, cultures, and meanings.

This performance will take place at Judson Memorial Church. General Admission and Free tickets available. All are welcome!

Darvejon A. Jones
Phase 2: a good grimace (working title) (New York premiere)

About his new work, Darvejon A. Jones writes: “On February 28, 2026, child was born with neonatal asphyxia. When she finally started breathing, the midwife declared, “Ah! She is displaying a good grimace...” On February 28, 2026, Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School was decimated by an airstrike, killing 120 children. These incidents are connected: they mark the same fragile moment between life and death.” This extraordinary work imagines that moment as an infinite corridor where energies/ spirits take up space, and honors the strength and innocence of children.

Performed by Empress Peebles, Aja Belcher Velez, Lucia Flexer-Marshall, Willow Liebowitz, Kathy Xia, Jullianne Grace Lao, and Del Porter. Music by Kobi Abcede.

Same As Sister / Hilary Brown-Istrefi and Briana Brown-Tipley
UPSTAIRS, IN OUR BEDROOM (premiere)

What if we were them and they were us…? writes Same As Sister. UPSTAIRS, IN OUR BEDROOM is a multimedia performance that tells the choreographer twins’ joint autobiography alongside the true story of the Barbadian-Welsh outsider artists, June-Alison and Jennifer Gibbons, popularly known as The Silent Twins. Unjustly committed to the infamous Broadmoor Psychiatric Hospital from 1982 to 1993, the Gibbons’ channeled their imaginative inner worlds through a singular and relatively unseen body of creative work, including novels, short stories, poetry, diaries, and drawings. Combining dance, narration, and video, UPSTAIRS, IN OUR BEDROOM reconstructs the defining moments of these intersecting stories of twinship, Blackness, and mental illness to question who gets to be called an “Artist” and for what reasons.

Performed by Same As Sister with James Edward Becton III, Emma Rose Brown, Kiebpoli Calnek, Sabrina Canas, Abigail Linnemeyer, John Pickup, and Asia Stewart. Sound design by Arjuna Meadows. Video design by Same As Sister. Technologist: Jeremy Kadetsky. Lighting Design by Shana Crawford. Dramaturgy: Susan Mar Landau.

Running time: 90 minutes with a 15-minute intermission.

Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Pioneers Go East Collective, which directly supports artists and programs like this one!

DIRECTIONS:

Judson Church

243 Thompson Street

New York, NY 10012

Subway:

A, C, E, B, D, F, M to West 4th Street

R to NYU 8th Street.

Accessibility:

Our accessible entrance is by way of 243 Thompson St. Use the lift to get to the Meeting Room on Level 3 or our accessible bathrooms on Level B (basement). Return to Level 1 for street access back to the corner of West 4th & Thompson St.