“ARCANUM” Cyber Gallery
Sarah Sanders: In My Name
In My Name
Sarah Sanders, constructed by gabbah baya and Natalie Valcourt, Cyber Feast, 2020, Prayer book, two candlesticks, Kiddish cup, challah bread, bowl of matzah ball soup, bagel, yarmulke (skullcap), shofar (ram's blow horn) and a bottle of Manischevitz wine
"My name is Sarah Sanders. Like the press secretary. My last name would have been Schneiderman but my grandfather changed it to sound less Jewish. And here I am, a white, queer, ritual-craving, anti-Zionist Jew from Montana who shares a name with a white nationalist apologist."
In My Name is a mostly-solo theatre piece by Sarah Sanders using original music, ritual, personal narrative, and emails to the former White House press secretary to grapple with the ways that Sarah's whiteness and US American Jewish identity intersect—and to ask (where) does spirituality fit into all this? Produced in partnership with Abrons Arts Center, this event took place on November 14, 2020 in their outdoor amphitheater, followed by a sunset bonfire. A recording of the performance live-stream can be viewed here.
In Sarah Sanders' digital dreamscape, you find that after one bite of astral challah bread you become the size of a scrumptious rugalech. Honey, she shrunk the kids! You will explore Sander’s Shabbat dinner table, like you're looking for an afikomen at the end of Seder. Your task? "Embroidered naught in English, where two lines kiss 'twixt her plane, you will be fore her shem." Adorned with ceremonial dishes, Sanders (Gemini) has prepared for you a feast of her homemade performances and archives. Hope you brought some tupperware!
The artworks in this gallery can be viewed within a playable video game, an immerse dreamscape constructed by gabbah baya and Natalie Valcourt, with an audio score by HiFadility.
Please note that this game is not compatible with Safari, or mobile phones. It is best played on a desktop (Mac or PC) using Chrome or Firefox.
Above: “The Sarah Song”, an excerpt from In My Name, performed for the Opening Reception of the 2019-2020 Queer|Art|Mentorship Annual Exhibition: “ARCANUM;” In My Name, excerpt of live performance at Abrons Arts Center, GIFs, 2020
ABOUT SARAH SANDERS
Image by Felicita “Felli” Maynard for the 2020 Queer|Art Community Portrait Project
Sarah Sanders (she/her) is a queer Jewish performer, writer, musician, and emergent strategy advocate raised in Montana and based in Brooklyn. She makes musical theatre pieces exploring narratives around identity, ritual, and lots of kinds of love, and is thinking a lot about performance as a site of community care and healing. She also really likes to make people laugh. Sarah has developed new work with The Bengsons, Musical Theatre Factory, Undiscovered Countries, and the Hearth, and performed at places including Dixon Place and Theatrelab in New York, On The Boards in Seattle, and The Pleasance Theatre in London. Sarah has a BA from Williams College and an MFA in acting from LAMDA.
Links: Website, Instagram