Performance Works in Theatrical/Gallery/Community Spaces
"every.single.one"
A one-woman show by Cherie Sampson
(Directed by Cheryl Black)
Upcoming Performances:
Columbia Entertainment Company (CEC) Theater February 6-9, 2025.
Stories of hereditary cancer & finding resiliency
In 2017, when artist Cherie Sampson posted images of a series of photographs taken in a natural environment of her body made hairless from chemotherapy, a friend and ovarian cancer survivor commented, “Every. Single. One. of us who has been with this disease is validated, loved and to a certain extent, freed by this image.”
“every.single.one” is a multimedia performance by Sampson that depicts personal, familial and community stories about hereditary cancer while exploring topics of genetics, integrative oncology, and healing from a patient’s perspective of modern medicine. It interweaves three levels of testimonial – Cherie’s own, her sister’s, and those of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer survivors and previvors, whose stories were conveyed to Cherie in a series of interviews. (“Previvors” are people who take prophylactic measures to prevent cancer when they carry a known genetic risk.) The artist documented her cancer experience in audio-visual material, including the phone call delivering the news of the diagnosis. That collection of material has been edited into short video vignettes and soundscapes to comprise the audio-visual environment of the performance that, along with spoken word and expressive movement, is integral to the storytelling. Dance as a healing practice is an important throughline in the performance as it was during Cherie’s treatment and recovery. Shortly after her diagnosis, she informed her dance mentor in south Indian classical dance, Anjali Tata-Hudson, that she wished “to keep dancing through this.” Together, they worked on traditional dance items that would provide focus for physical, emotional, and spiritual strength, then later re-envisioned them into creative movement segments co-choreographed for this performance. “every.single.one” is a dramatic interpretation of an intimately personal and simultaneously universal human reality that explores the body as a site of uncertainty in illness, loss, sibling, and community interrelationship and survival. Initiating the project during treatment provided Cherie with a means to process the life-altering ordeal in which to, in the words of Black feminist poet, Audre Lorde, “examine it, put it into perspective, share it and make use of it.”
“every.single.one” was a Jane Chambers Award Finalist in 2023 for new feminist plays and performance texts.
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