A Thousand Ways is a triptych of encounters between strangers. Guided by a score of instructions, questions, prompts, and physical directives, people who have never met build a series of performances for one another. Each installment of A Thousand Ways explores the line between strangeness and kinship, distance and proximity, and how the most intimate assembly can become profoundly radical.

Part One: A Phone Call

On a simple phone call, you and another audience member – nameless strangers to one another – follow a carefully crafted set of directives. Over the course of the journey, a portrait of each other emerges through fleeting moments of exposure and the simple sound of an unseen voice.

Part Two: An Encounter

Nested at the center of an empty space is a small table bisected by glass. You sit at the table, opposite a stranger, with a stack of index cards, a handful of objects, and a set of instructions to guide you. What will come from this? It is a chance at being heard, a brave moment to show up.

Part Three: An Assembly

A public convening made up of you and the other strangers from this project’s journey. Using a shared script, all of us who have previously met across distance come together for a final collective experience.