The Radio Show
2010 New York Dance and Performance "Bessie" Award recipient

The Radio Show creates an abstract narrative around the loss of communication, investigating the effects of the abrupt discontinuation of a radio station on a community and the lingering effects of Alzheimer's and aphasia on a family.
Broken up into various shorter works that blend my fondest memories of driving with my family and listening to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s radio station Hot 106.7FM WAMO and its sister station AM 860. On September 8, 2009, WAMO, the only urban radio station in Pittsburgh sadly, went off-air.

With the recent turmoil surrounding the death of 16 year old Derrion Albert in Chicago discussed over the airwaves of radio stations around the world, I wondered how aware listeners were to the goings on in other urban communities around the country now that its voice had been taken away.
Without Black Radio, where is the audible voice of the black community? Radio was so prevalent during times of strife in the past. Where is its place today? Is radio fading away? Are we still listening?

Reinterpreting those questions into the context of my father’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s ten years ago and his more recent aphasia-afflicted conditions where these losses of voice find a common thread.