“Pip saw God’s foot upon the treadle of the loom, and spoke it’ and therefore, his shipmates called him mad. So man’s insanity is heaven’s sense; and wandering from all mortal reason, man comes at last to that celestial thought, which to reason, is absurd and frantic; and weal or woe, feels then uncompromised, indifferent as his God.” 

—Herman Melville, Moby Dick

Since March 13, 2020, when Deep Blue Sea’s technical residency at MassMOCA was abruptly ended by COVID-19 until the announcement of its premiere past September—a period of 18+ months-the work experienced a series of obstacles that at first were merely the postponement such a tumultuous era demanded, but which became ever more grave as I began to doubt the work could-or mabye should—exist! 

Questions that undergird DBS: personal, social, and formal questions, have come under fire. 

The personal: what of memory in the face of time passing? What parts of identity persist, and what falls away? 

The social: the pursuit of the “we” in our society, is it still a relevant question? “Who gets left behind, and what of it?” 

The formal: The piece was originally created for the Drill Hall at the Park Avenue Armory and the space calls for a large-scale event. The work proceeds from the lone individual to the specialized community of ten to an even larger group that suggests an even more expansive demographic: the world?

I am grateful to my collaborators, Liz Diller, Peter Nigrini, Nick Hallett, Robert Wierzel, Liz Prince, to our chorus of singers, Janet Wong, the performers of Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, as well as to our community of guests who have lent body and spirit to what our initial dramaturg, Mark Hairston, called “communitas” and to whom we are ever indebted. 

I am likewise indebted to Kim Cullen and our bravely resourceful staff and Board of Directors at New York Live Arts as well as our partners at the Mann Center. 

Bill T. Jones
Creator & Director