A Meal

A multi-sensorial live performance: part-ritual, part-celebration, part-installation, and part-dinner by critically acclaimed multidisciplinary artist duo Ximena Garnica and Shige Moriya. Commissioned by HERE and co-produced with LEIMAY, A Meal explores our deep connection with food—where it comes from, what we eat, and who we share it with.

A Meal was presented at HERE Arts Center in September 2024.

A Meal was like no project I had ever worked on before, or, likely will ever work on again. By 2024 I had been with Ximena and Shige for almost a decade so I knew we would be engaging in a robust, tiring, and complex process. And this project did not disappoint. The piece took place in the entirety of HERE Arts Center’s two-story building. All aspects of the space was used, meaning I had to design sound systems to fill two theatre’s, an upstairs bar/lobby, a stairwell, and a downstairs hallway. All of these systems had to interweave with one another and this all had to be accomplished with pretty limited networking equipment.

On top of this, there was also a three and a half hour show to program. Part of this was done with Qlab and other elements were live mixed with Ableton. I myself moved between two theatrical spaces throughout the event as I played parts of the show live while other simultaneous sections occured via a remote controlled Qlab session. The networking we ended up installing throughout the entirety of HERE was, honestly, baffling and intense, but at the end of the day it all came together somehow.

For my part, I composed the music with composers Thea Little and Jeremy Slater. While I did all of the system design and sound programming for the show, Jeremy and Thea’s contributions were essential in building the larger world of the piece. This is alongside vocal composition devised with the LEIMAY ensemble, specifically vocalists Carolina Oliveros and Synead Cidney Nichols. Much of the sound for A Meal came out of field recordings taken with Ximena and Shige over a 5+ year development period. Over this time we recorded a wide array of cooking and food-based sounds which weaved their way throughout the work like a complex and interconnected tapestry.
Below you can find a short audio sample as well as some video clips from the production

Ximena Garnica and Shige MoriyaCreators, designers, and directors
Drew Sensue-WeinsteinLead Composer and Sound Designer
Thea Little and Jeremy SlaterCo-Composers
Performed by the LEIMAY EnsembleMasanori Asahara, Krystel Copper, Maitlin Jordan, Akane Little
With Guest PerformersDerek DiMartini, Mar Galeano, Peggy Gould, David Guzman, Synead Cidney Nichols, Denisa Musilova, Carolina Oliveros, Polina Porras
Ximena Garnica and Dayeon JeongCostume Designers
Juan MerchanLighting Designer
Benja Thompson and Glenn Potter-TakataVideo and Systems Design
*Photos by Maria Baranova

Press

“The lengthy allegorical segments take on mythic proportions, open to your own personal interpretation and values.. as the ensemble and guest performers... lead us through the evocative pieces with their stylized hand gestures and ethereal motions that conjure ancient civilizations, the evolution of human sustenance, and its impact on the natural creatures and growth of our planet, enhanced with an otherworldly soundscape, hypnotic a cappella vocals, projections on multiple screens around the space, and shifts in lighting that set the tone and range from focused spotlights to total darkness in the black box theater.”

- Deb Miller, DC Theatre Arts