Urban Backstage explored spaces in the city that, through accident, intention, design, loss, and/or neglect, allow urban residents to remove their masks, to make mistakes, to hide and/or expose thoughts and actions that may not be allowed elsewhere. The collaborators investigated this backstage quality in the waterfront and urban infrastructure of the Lower East Side, where the mechanics of the city are
generally hidden. In the same way that the distinction between back and front stage is often blurred or eliminated in contemporary performance, this residency generated movement toward making visible these supporting services of the city.
Shawn Shafner
Shawn Shafner has been inspiring critical conversations about sustainable sanitation throughout NYC and internationally since 2010 as creator of The People’s Own Organic Power Project (www.thePOOPproject.org). As a 2014-15 LABA Fellow, Shawn invites you to come to the 14th Street Y and explore the intersection between preserved personal narratives and fermented foods (www.labajournal.com).