TRISK PRESENTS VERBAL ANIMALS, THE 2026 PRODUCTION RESIDENT ARTIST
For Immediate Release
MARCH 13, 2026
BROOKLYN, NY -- Trisk is honored to present VERBAL ANIMALS premiere of STAR SPANGLED MANOR, running April 9-11 at 8pm each night.
STAR SPANGLED MANOR is an interdisciplinary dance-theater work structured as a live laboratory for interrogating the colonialist ideology of “The American Dream.” Through dance theater, projection, set design, sound scoring, and bodily prosthetics, the piece navigates aesthetics of surveillance and rave culture to expose how systems of power shape collective consciousness. Framed through a queer lens, the body becomes a charged site of resistance, rupture, and transformation. The work traces the tension between order and chaos, revealing how stabilizing structures often expose their own contradictions. By staging this unraveling, it gestures toward the fragile veneer of national ideals and how quickly they fracture under pressure. Yet the piece does not end in dissolution; as chaos mounts and clarity emerges, it opens portals, moments that invite our participants to reconsider the architectures governing daily life and imagine the possibility of remaking, and collective futures beyond constraint.
VERBAL ANIMAL operates as a rotating ensemble of Queer interdisciplinary collaborators. With an emphasis on sensation-based creation, the ensemble uses scoring practices and active collaboration to generate eccentric, thought-provoking, narrative-driven work. Moving across dance-theater, multimedia installation, and experimental performance, VERBAL ANIMAL explores the complexities of Queer identity while disrupting conventional aesthetics and cultural expectations. The company has been commissioned by the 14th St Y, WAXworks, TADA! Theater, 3 Dollar Bill, LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, and Triskelion Arts, and serves as the resident company of PLAY ME TECHNO, a performance-art rave centering experimental performance within nightlife.
This past summer, VERBAL ANIMAL received a Queens New Work grant to create CONCRETE GULP, which premiered and toured with the Queensboro Dance Festival. They also received a NYFA Support for Artists grant for STAR SPANGLED MANOR, premiering in April 2026. As the 2026 Production Resident Artist at Triskelion Arts, the ensemble is excited to deepen its collaborative processes while developing its first full-length evening work, expanding both its interdisciplinary practice and its development of Queer-driven, collaborative performance work.
STAR SPANGLED MANOR is performed by VERBAL ANIMAL founder, Lavy, as well as collaborators Mikaela Chiplin, Kenley Hardwick, Annalise Gheling, Marcus Sarjeant, and Ragin Smith. The sound design is by Lavy and Angel Burner, with lighting design by Connor Sale. Tickets are available online, and at the box office 30 minutes before curtain.
TICKETS
EARLY BIRD:
$50 🌟 SUPPORTER/ $30 SUPERFAN / $22 EARLY BIRD / $17 HEARTS
AT-THE-DOOR:
50 🌟 SUPPORTER /$30 SUPERFAN / $26 AT-THE-DOOR / $17 HEARTS
What's Behind Our Ticketing Tiers?
We are thrilled to launch our new tiered ticketing, crafted to prioritize maximum compensation for our incredible artists, fair wages for our production team, and inclusive ticket prices for all our performances. This structure also addresses the financial challenges of producing live performances in NYC by aligning ticket costs more closely with the actual, unsubsidized value of each seat. Our ticket options now range from $17 to $50. We recognize that systemic inequities create barriers to the arts. The $17 HEARTS tier is offered in the spirit of community care and is open to those who need it. Regardless of the ticket price, every attendee will enjoy the same magical experience.
TRISKELION ARTS, lovingly referred to as Trisk, is a nonprofit organization, live performance venue, and rehearsal space in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, offering NYC-based dance and movement artists high-quality, sustainable opportunities to create and present work. Trisk partners with artists creating trailblazing work that broadens the cultural dialogue and elevates its community’s many voices and perspectives. Trisk is a home for artists and audiences to connect, to make art happen, to make magic. Trisk presents artists practicing, crafting, mining, experimenting, speaking up, and speaking out.
Trisk is made possible with generous support from our funders: The Howard Gilman Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, NYS Assembly Member Emily Gallagher, NYC Council Member Lincoln Restler, New York State Council on the Arts, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Harkness Foundation For Dance and Emma Sheafer Charitable Trust.
www.triskelionarts.org/spring-2026-performances/verbal-animal
triskelionarts.org
Triskelion Arts
106 Calyer Street, Brooklyn, NY 11222
Enter on Banker Street
MEDIA RELATIONS CONTACT:
Miriam Rose
miriam@triskelionarts.org
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
LAVY
Lavy is a choreographic dance artist, producer, and DJ. In 2021, they founded VERBAL ANIMAL, a rotating cohort of interdisciplinary collaborators. They have been commissioned by the 14th St Y, TADA! Theater, 3 Dollar Bill, and Triskelion Arts. Lavy was a returning choreographer with Mare Nostrum Elements, premiering an evening-length work at Laguardia Performing Arts Center, and was later commissioned to create a new piece for the 2024 Making Moves Festival. They closed Triskelion Arts’ 2024 season with IN EXCHANGE FOR ANONYMITY and recently received an NYFA grant to premiere CONCRETE GULP as part of the Queensborough Dance Festival’s 2025 tour. Additionally, Lavy is Co-Producer of the NY show Kiss My Face and founder of PLAY ME TECHNO, an experimental rave centering risk-forward performance art in decentralized spaces. Further, they received a NYSCA Support for Artists grant and serve as the 2026 Production Resident Artist at Triskleion Arts. @xlavvvy
KENLEY HARDWICK
Kenley Hardwick is a recent graduate from Marymount Manhattan College. Before coming to New York for college he began his training in South Carolina where he attended the South Carolina Governor's School for Arts and Humanities. Upon Graduation, Kenley began studies with Gibney Pro, working with choreographers such as Rena Butler, Maleek Washington, Laja Field, and Elia Mark. Recently, Hardwick joined VERBAL ANIMAL as a company member for their 2023 season. @kvnlvy
MIKAELA CHIPLIN
Makaila Chiplin (she/her) is a New York based freelance artist, originally from Austin, Texas. She graduated from the University of the Arts, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance. She has been involved as a performer and collaborator with BigKid Dance, Kayla Farrish, Katie Swords Thurman, Sheer Spectacle, Marcella Lewis, and Emily Wexler, among others. @chip_lol
RAGIN SMITH
Ragin Smith (she/her) is a dance artist based in Brooklyn, New York. She received her BFA in dance at Marymount Manhattan College in 2020, where she performed works by Andrea Miller, Kyle Abraham, Loni Landon, Elizabeth Roxas-Dobrish and others. Since then she has had the pleasure of performing works by Brendan Fernandes, Evan Ray Suzuki, Valeria Gonzalez, Morgan Bobrow-Williams, Ryan Bailey, Troy Ogilvie, La Intrusa Company, Michelle Thompson Ulerich, and more. Alongside these freelance projects, Ragin is a collaborator with Hivewild, Verbal Animal, Wet Hairy Women, Headlights Theater, MORISATO, and Alison Chase Performance Group. She has presented some of her own work at The Tank, Fabled Narcissism, ESTIA Day Fest, and as an artist in residence at the Jonah Bokaer Arts Foundation and the Cell Theatre. Ragin also partners with Haley Morgan Miller to direct and produce the Fabled Narcissism arts events. @thats_so_ragin
MARCUS SARJEANT
Marcus Sarjeant is a 25 year old dancer from Southern California where he trained with Westside Dance Project, as well as attended the Orange County School of the Arts. In 2022 he graduated Summa Cum Laude from SUNY Purchase with a BFA in Dance. He has performed the works of choreographers such as Annamari Keskinen, Connie Shiau, Kayla Farrish, Hofesh Shechter, and Johannes Wieland. In addition he’s danced for many New York based companies such as VERBAL ANIMAL, Decent Structures Arts, Gaudanse, and most currently is a member of Cardinal Movement and Company. @m4rcuhz_
ANNALISE GEHLING
Annalise Gehling is a movement artist, choreographer, performer, shapeshifter and zen screamer based in NYC. A graduate of Loyola Marymount University’s Dance and Theatre Arts programs, their work crafts immersive experiences at the intersection of movement, music, fashion, film, visual art, and digital media. Film credits include Amanda Kramer’s feature film By Design (Sundance) and Heavy Boots’ short film Moullier (Cannes Straight 8). They have collaborated with and performed for music artists Shygirl, Allie X, Audrey Nuna, King Woman, Garzi, and RY X and fashion brands such as Nike and Dreamhouse. They are a founding member of Trin Dance Theatre and co-creator of the performance project FLESH VESSEL with Keilan Stafford. Influenced by experiences in the underground, Annalise’s work explores the body as an altar to evoke transformation, expression, and rebellion. Their practice lives at the intersection of the sacred and the visceral, inviting audiences into embodied ritual. @annalise_gehling
CONNOR SALE
Connor Sale is a Brooklyn-based Lighting Designer and the Resident Lighting Designer of Triskelion Arts. Recent collaborations include: til infiniti, Farewell My Fool, The Closties Variety Hour; The Suite; to begin with no end; ENUF (Triskelion Arts), The Missing Fruit, Part 1 (New York City Center/Fall For Dance), Das Ersatz (The Brick), Das Rauschgift (Box of Moonlight), MEOW! (Exponential Festival), With Tears (BEAMS), Femenine (PS21), the body || dust (Gibney), But, Soft (PAGEANT), and Sea Change (Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago). He’s toured internationally with Pina Bausch’s The Rite of Spring (École des Sables/Sadler’s Wells co-production), Akram Khan’s Gigenis, and Faye Driscoll’s Weathering. He’s interested in using the temporary nature of light to make people more active in space. More of his work can be found at connorsale.com and at @connorsalelight