Edgar Arceneaux

The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago announces a rare presentation of Edgar Arceneaux’s Until, Until, Until..., running from October 17 through 19 at 7:30pm in the Edlis Neeson Theater.

Arceneaux is a contemporary artist working in Los Angeles, whose primary materials are histories and memories marred by gaps in logic, clichés, and erasures. Working within these gaps, Arceneaux applies a surreal, dream-like lens to pry open the messy contents of history, and pull what we think we already know into new shapes.

Arceneaux’s live performance Until, Until, Until . . . restages Broadway legend Ben Vereen’s infamous 1981 blackface performance at Ronald Reagan’s inaugural gala, and its aftermath. As an homage to vaudevillian Bert Williams, one of America’s first mainstream Black entertainers, Ben Vereen performed a moving tribute to Williams on national television, donned in blackface makeup, as was required of Black vaudevillian performers in the early 20th century. In the first half of his performance, Vereen performed a song and dance routine in the vaudevillian style. The second half of his show contained biting commentary about the history of Black performance in the US, assimilation into white norms, and white supremacy, but woefully, that section was edited out of the national broadcast, leading to a national outrage and Vereen’s career derailment. Vereen was never allowed to tell his side of the story . . . until now.

A multilayered, abstract fever dream of a play, Arceneaux’s Until, Until, Until . . . invites audiences to directly experience Vereen’s censored performance, deemed too dangerous to air on national television.

Edgar Arceneaux’s Until, Until, Until . . . was commissioned by Performa and MIT’s Vera List Visual Arts Center for the Performa 15 Biennial. Now, 10 years since its debut, this restaging is an opportunity to reflect on what’s changed in the years since.

The performance begins with a cocktail hour inside the theater. Audience members are invited to arrive early for an immersive pre-show experience filled with vaudeville-era music as well as snacks and drinks for purchase before the performance officially kicks off at 8:30pm. For tickets and more information, visit mcachicago.org/until.

The MCA presentation is organized by Laura Paige Kyber, Assistant Curator of Performance.