On May 27-29, Tessa Wills, who has been collaborating with Krista DeNio, Jaime Cortez, ABD Productions/Skywatchers, and local youth artists, will premiere Tender Nights: Multimedia Performance Walks Through the Tenderloin in partnership with the THIS IS WHAT I WANT festival. Working from youth stories, the artists will take participants by the hand and walk them out into the evening to engage with themes of gentrification, tender desire, psychogeography, private space, public space, the internal lives of young people, and queer sexuality.
In addition to contributions of artistic director Tessa Wills and lead artists Krista DeNio and Jaime Cortez, the project has been developed with sound artist Zachary Watkins, mapmaker Taraneh Hemami, and performing artists Jose Abad, Sammay Dizon, Randy Reyes, Jaq Nguyen Victor, Tavi, and Angeline. The project manager is Lucy Tafler, and partnering organizations are ABD Productions, CounterPulse, and Larkin Street Youth Services.
Each night, two concurrent walks will depart from CounterPulse at 7:30 pm. Participants are encouraged to wear comfortable shoes, and walks will be accessible for people in wheelchairs.
Tickets may be purchased directly from CounterPulse. While no one will be turned away for lack of funds, due to very limited tickets reservations are highly recommended.