Part performance and part activism, Ezra Dickinson‘s Mother for you I made this is aimed at activating a conversation about the failed mental health care system in America through memories of Dickinson’s childhood as he lived with and unknowingly cared for his schizophrenic mother. Dickinson’s hour-long solo is built from a series of performances he made as gifts for his mother over a seven year period.
Audiences were guided through forgotten public spaces by ushers and given a personal audio sound score composed by Paurl Walsh. Weaving conversations between Dickinson and his mother with sounds from the actual landscape.
Mother for you I made this was commissioned and produced through Velocity Dance Center‘s Made in Seattle dance development program with support from 4Culture, ArtsFund, and the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture. Premiered May 2013, in Downtown Seattle.
