The departments of Philosophy and Theater in conjunction with the Arcus Center for Social Justic Leadership, the Office of Student Involvement, and the departments of Music and Critical Ethnic Studies, present:
The Hinterlands – Will You Miss Me?
Saturday, September 28, 2024 – 7:30pm
Sunday, September 29, 2024 – 2pm
Olmsted Room, Mandelle Hall
Free – no reservations necessary, seating is first come, first serve.
A haunting song echoing across the holler draws a traveler into a funeral service for one of many white workers who moved from Appalachia to Detroit in the last century. But this is no normal funeral and this is no ordinary corpse. Layering traditional Appalachian songs with family lore, pre-Christian mythology, and more, Will You Miss Me? pushes audiences to examine the stories we tell ourselves about who we are and to grieve the selves that have been forgotten. It is a funeral for whiteness, a memorial for what came before its construction, and a way of imagining what might come after.
THE HINTERLANDS is a Detroit-based company creating performances and public events that are equal parts playful and surreal. From our original touring pieces to the events we curate in our Detroit neighborhood, our work is built around pressing into the unknown areas of our personal and collective history with fearless physicality and a sense of humor. Our performances smash seemingly disparate images and ideas together, culminating in new, highly layered meanings that are greater than the sum of their parts. We create a space for our audience to be in this unknown hinterland with us through techniques that disarm and disorient, short-circuiting expectations and luring them into unexpected interactions. We have an ongoing physical and vocal training practice that is both a foundation of our collaborative devising process, and a means of conducting exchanges across disciplines and contexts. Formed in 2009 by Richard Newman and Liza Bielby, our work has been seen at the Shanghai Biennale, the Berlinale, Alverno Presents, Flynn Center, The Detroit Institute of Arts, Charlestown Working Theater, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit among others.
“It hit me on a body level, a gut level, and it sent me into a kind of reverie that I haven’t felt from a piece in a long time. I was haunted by it, not just on my drive home, but I woke up the next day thinking about it. I kept talking about it… and l couldn’t get back to my life before buying a ticket to go see it again the following week.”
Zak Rosen, Slate Magazine