PUT AWAY THE FIRE, DEAR

Put Away the Fire, dear

Thursday, March 6 at 7:30PM
Friday, March 7 at 7:30PM
Saturday, March 8 at 7:30PM

100 minutes and an intermission

$20-40

Creator, Writer and Director | Kayla Farrish in collaboration with performing artists and designers
Cast/Performing Artists and Script, Character, and Movement Creation | Jessica Alexander, Makaila Chiplin, Kayla Farrish, Martell Ruffin, Junyla Silmon, and Christian Warner
Additional Performing/Creative Collaborators | Kerime Konur and Truth Colon
Music Composition and Performance | Alex MacKinnon
Scenic Design | Dyer Rhoads
Lighting Design | Yannick Godts
Filmmaking Collaborators and Projections | Garrett Parker, Jessica Karis Ray, and Kayla Farrish
Costume Design | Caitlin Taylor in collaboration with Kayla Farrish
Stage Manager | Adalhia Hart
Company Manager | Shanice Mason


From ‘25 CF Resident Artist Kayla Farrish, Put Away the Fire, dear is a group, dance-theater work that unravels American Cinema. Six marginalized characters defy their inherited roles and reimagine new narratives for themselves. Jumping through portals spanning reality and cinema, they change the lens, uprooting power and their distorted existence.

During the show, we connect with those of the past like Zora Neale Hurston, Oscar Michaux, Ethel Waters, Bojangles and onwards… This work invites BIPOC audiences to see their worlds reflected and offers collective liberation in dreaming of our unwritten stories. In 100 minutes, this wild dance-theater production breaks down the notion of whose imagination we are living in—all through shifting scenic design by Dyer Rhoads and live music by Alex MacKinnon.

Put Away the Fire, dear was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Foundation and the Mellon Foundation; commissioned and created in part with the support of The Joyce Theater Foundation’s Creative Residencies Program made possible by lead funding from the Mellon Foundation; supported in part by the Foundation for Contemporary Arts’ Emergency Grant; residency support provided by NYU Tisch Department of Dance (2024); supported by Ellis Beauregard Foundation Choreographer Award (2023), supported in part by The Watermill Center and the Nina Von Maltzahn Fellowship (2023); supported in part by Works & Process Showing at the Guggenheim Museum and LaunchPAD Residency at Bethany Arts Center (2024); Donation support by John Robinson (2024); supported in part by La Mama Experimental Theater- La Mama Moves Festival and Mertz-Gilmore Late Stage Grant (2023), Triskelion Theater (2022); and ODC Theater and American Dance Festival where it premiered in 2024. Harkness Foundation for Dance Grant (2025) and Chelsea Factory Artist Residency (2025).

About Kayla Farrish:
Kayla Farrish is a Black American Director merging dance-theater, filmmaking, narrative, and sound score. Her commissions include Limon Dance Company, Gibney, Louis Armstrong House Museum, Danspace, Little Island, Harlem Stage, BlackLight Summit and beyond. She creates live works, films, site-specific/immersive, and music collaborations. She recently shared Choir (Carrie Mae Weems Exhibition), To Dream A Lifetime (BlackLight), Roster with Melanie Charles, MIXTAPES with Alex MacKinnon and site-specific Broken Record (Little Island) with Brandon Coleman, and Martyr’s Fiction film in edit. Presenting spaces include Lincoln Center, Park Avenue Armory, Symphony Space, and National Sawdust, among receiving support from Works & Process, Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective, Baryshnikov Arts Center, La Mama Experimental Theater, and others.

She received the Sundance Uprise Grant for Emerging BIPOC Directors, Bessie Awards for December 8th and NYLA’s Motherboard Suite, New York Times’ Top 2021 Dance Performances “Roster” and “Breakout Star.” She is a recipient of the Harkness Promise Award for 2022. During 2023, she created new works for Arizona State University, LINES Dance Training Program, and the University of Arizona. She has been commissioned to create a reimagined archival work for Limon Dance Company, and collaborated with musician Trixie Whitley. In her company project, Put Away the Fire, dear, they tour a narrative group work supported by New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) National Dance Project (NDP) Touring Dance Production Grant. She is also the 2023 recipient of The Watermill Center’s Baroness Nina Von Maltzahn Fellowship and the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation Choreographer Award.

Health and Safety Protocols
Chelsea Factory will be implementing the following procedures to help ensure the health and safety of our patrons, staff, and artists:

• Masks are optional.

• While Chelsea Factory strongly recommends vaccination against COVID-19, proof of vaccination is not currently required for audience entrance to performances and public programs.

Click here for our full Health and Safety Protocols.