UNDESIRABLE ELEMENTS HANOVER:

Clockwise from top left: Ping Chong, Nela Suka, Michael Rohd, Gita Patel, Tekle Tomlinson.
Photo by Alexios N. Monopolis
Background Information

Focusing on experiences of individuals struggling in the margins of society, the project will explore individuals outside the mainstream--whose underrepresentation in northern New England absents them from mainstream depictions of community. The project will reflect back to our community its own changing ethnic complexion, provide a deeply considered view of the human experience, and bring community members of northern New England into dialogue about diversity. Ultimately, the project will counter the American propensity to fear and malign the "other," and will challenge participants to contemplate how to create a society of understanding. Is there a voice for a fringe sensibility in a rural area where culture has been historically dictated by a traditional Ivy League institution founded before the United States was (1769), and which remained almost exclusively white and male until the 1970s?

Illuminating members of society whose existence and experiences may be invisible in a community considered largely devoid of ethnic diversity, Undesireable Elements Hanover will be made in a three-week collaborative workshop process involving Chong and a group of community members who vary in many ways but share the common experience of having been born in one culture and now being part of another. Modeled on similar projects in other communities, the piece will interweave the experiences of its participants with their histories, memories, and languages of homeland.

Participants in Chong's project are a combination of college students and adult members of the community, chosen for diverse ethnic backgrounds and cultural perspectives. Members of the audience and the community will be encouraged to contribute their own responses and personal narratives on a dedicated website, and an audience discussion with Chong and the participants will follow the performance.

For more information, please contact Susan Callaghan, Outreach Assistant, at (603) 646-2010, or by email: Susan.Callaghan@Dartmouth.EDU.

Places to go from here:

  • CLICK HERE for background information on the development of this project.
  • CLICK HERE for a brief biography of Ping Chong.
  • CLICK HERE to read excerpts from the stories of our local participants.
  • CLICK HERE to submit your own story!
  • CLICK HERE for complete information about the performance event at the Hopkins Center.

    For more information, please contact Susan Callaghan, Outreach Assistant, at (603) 646-2010, or by email: Susan.Callaghan@Dartmouth.EDU.
Presented by the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, and additional funding from Dartmouth’s Tucker Foundation.