Coming Soon | She is Called: Dear Stranger

She Is Called is an original choral/theater production being developed for the stage by Brooklyn Youth Chorus under the direction of Founder and Artistic Director, Dianne Berkun Menaker. Over a multi-year artistic development process, the young artists of the Chorus are collaborating with established theater artists to present commissions by contemporary composers that address themes of gender and identity.

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the Chorus is presenting the first phase of the project, She Is Called: Dear Stranger, via a media-rich website experience. The website will feature newly commissioned choral works, as well as photos and poetry from the singers in the Chorus, inspired by the themes of each song and the singers' perspectives/experiences. 

The production features new compositions from four celebrated composers - Nathalie Joachim, David Lang, Alev Lenz, and Shara Nova - and features significant artistic contributions from the students themselves. In collaboration with the students are four theater artists - Janani Balasubramanian, Charlotte Brathwaite, Sunder Ganglani, and Tareke Ortiz - who, through ongoing workshops, collaborated with the Chorus to bring this ambitious project to life. 

She Is Called: Dear Stranger is an exciting new production from Brooklyn Youth Chorus that presents the deep and rich perspectives of young people as they investigate gender, identity, community, and connection during this fraught time in our history.

She Is Called: Dear Stranger is being presented by UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance.