Brave Space

Inspired by the idea of creating trusting communities in trying and dangerous times, Brave Space starts as a puddle 250 yards of fabric on the floor, and, with the help of the audience, grows into a massive blanket fort--a world of hope that includes interdependent acts of aerial arts, acrobatics, juggling and balancing on 8 ft high poles. A show that is impossible to perform without an audience, each act in Brave Space is designed to physically draw spectators into the experience of putting oneself on the line for the safety and well being of at-risk members of a community. Not passive viewers, the audience becomes a part of the show, sometimes helping to build the physical space, sometimes holding ropes that keep trapeze artists aloft, sometimes stand- ing so close to the performers you can hear their hearts beating.

Brave Space was created as an antidote to the horrors of the daily news cycle. It’s not a “safe space,” but, an immersive performance that requires the audience and artists to show up as their best selves, encouraging them to care for themselves and those around them. “I wanted to create a show that felt like the opposite of the Handmaid’s Tale--something empowering. I wanted to create the world I want to live in, even if it only exists for an hour at a time,” director Shayna Swanson explains.

“It’s an experience that can only be relayed in impressions, as a literal description of it would be an unforgivable act of reductionism. Brave Space is a wonderful piece. It is daring, beautiful, whimsical, profound, simplistic, complicated, safe, scary, beautiful thing.” --PGH in the Round