By Marc Bamuthi Joseph/The Living Word Project
Directed by Michael John Garcés
Choreography by Stacey Printz
Composed by Tommy Shepherd
Soccer—as both an intricate, euphoric choreography and an exploited corporate cash cow—is the subject of this electric meditation on the racial dimensions of the sport from multi-talented theater artist and performer Marc Bamuthi Joseph (red, black & GREEN: a blues, 2012 Next Wave). Using spoken-word poetry and fútbol-inspired footwork, Joseph and four performers dribble and pass their way from the pickup games of rural Haiti to the mega stadiums of Rio and Johannesburg, parsing the social justice of soccer to the sounds of hip-hop and samba. Against his own childhood memories of the game as a race-transcending source of happiness, Joseph posits a global reality in which black joy is all too often co-opted for financial gain, yet perseveres nonetheless.
Set and video design by David Szlasa
Lighting design by Tom Ontiveros
Sound design by Rob Kaplowitz
Costume design by Meghan Healy
Commissioned by the Kennedy Center for the Arts and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Chicago.
Produced by MAPP International Productions


