Past The Heavens

Company statement

Exploring stories of marginalized people through tap dance, original music and multimedia arts. Creating an arts conglomerate by and for queer, bipoc, and other marginalized people.

Director bio

Davon Suttles(they/he) is an emerging artist in Chicago, who grew up studying and performing American tap dance in Keane Sense of Rhythm’s Youth Tap Ensemble. Davon is also an actor and an alumnus of both Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists and Columbia College Chicago’s Musical Theatre Performance program. In 2019, Davon received the Cultural Community Partnership Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board for their first self produced work MELANIZED, a multimedia tap dance show about living as a person of color. This show addressed macro- and microaggressions towards POC while showcasing the beauty of living as a POC. Davon is a past member of Stone Soup Rhythms, under Dani Borak and has performed with the Children's Theatre Company in Shrek the Musical and bare: A Pop Opera. In 2018, they were a featured dancer in the new hit adaption of 42nd Street at Drury Lane Oakbrook Terrace, choreographed by Broadway performer, Jared Grimes. And in the Fall 2019, Davon returned to Drury Lane to join the ensemble of Mary Poppins. Currently, Davon is dancing with M.A.D.D. Rhythms, a non profit tap company based on the South Side of Chicago, whose mission is to preserve, promote, and contribute to this art form called tap.

About the show

The concept of this show was born from a journal entry I wrote one morning a few years ago -

“What would life be like if we reached past the heavens? Past the too often suffocating values of religions, specifically for queer youth. How can we strive for values that would better society as whole? Values that would discourage hatred of all kinds and spread unconditional love for all”.

How could I take the feelings of exclusion I felt as a young queer individual in church and while also sharing another perspective that could be completely opposite and synergize that into a theatrical experience? I began to contemplate how I could write gospel music that was empowering, but that was not framed by its religious trappings and often alienating beliefs.

The show will follow 5 queer individuals and their relationship with religion. Some positive, some negative, some uplifting, some heartbreaking.

I speak more about my process of conceptualizing this project in an interview with Pivot arts:

“PA: Pivot Arts will be presenting your work Past the Heavens, as part of the upcoming Memory Place project. The piece explores queer relationships with religion. What inspired you to dive into this relationship in particular?

DS: I think that gospel music is probably one of the most underrated music genres period! Especially when you take into account the impact it’s had on pretty much every music genre stemming from the African diaspora, and the impact those have had not only in American culture but globally! So I had originally conceptualized this show solely as an ensemble of tap dancers, dancing to some fun arrangements of old gospel songs then throwing in a few songs of my own! But as of recently I’ve been on a journey of self healing my childhood wounds, and I know many of queer people have tumultuous relationships with religion, myself included, so I really wanted to explore why for many religious communities that preach the necessity of spreading love and communal support, but then live the antithesis of said lifestyle, especially when it comes to people of the queer community. So I decided that no matter what, when I decide to do this show, that relationship must be explored.

Needs

In order for this project to reach its maximum potential, we’ll need a little help from our community! We are asking for a total of $1,500 in donations. Funds raised will cover the payment of each artist performing, pay for the travel of our co-composer, purchase costumes that not only add to the comprehension of the narrative, but also makes our performers feel confident! Any extra money will go towards the future full length production of Past The Heavens!

Thanks to our fiscal sponsor MADD Rhythms (a 501(c)3 organization), if you choose to graciously donate, all contributions are tax-deductible.

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