FIFTH CITY REVISITED
A solo performance by Meida Teresa McNeal
co-presented by Honey Pot Performance & First Church of the Brethren
Fifth City Revisited tells the story of a radical Black-centered community movement from the 1960s-1990s on the Westside of Chicago. Part memoir, part history lesson, and part urban planning critique, Fifth City Revisited explores how we create healthy communities while also considering the scale at which we must do this work in order to grow and sustain it.
Using dance, story, and media Fifth City Revisited considers the power of this community’s story against the backdrop of city planning systems that have all but erased its work. What lessons does the Fifth City movement have to teach us in our current exciting and (cautiously) hopeful era of grassroots change where a renewed commitment to neighborhood investment is bubbling up across Chicago’s West and South sides?
A filmed version & online exhibition of
Fifth City Revisited will premiere in 2023
With collaborators Keli Stewart (Asst Director), David Weathersby (Filmmaker), Justin Botz (Projection & Sound), Margaret Nelson (Lighting), and Adia Sykes and Victoria Sockwell (Online exhibition curation).
The work does does not stop. We will continue the Fifth City Revisited project by documenting Westside community histories, highlighting community creativity, and exploring visions for what community investment and wealth can look like now and in the future. Our virtual platform includes a digital exhibit, a neighborhood response salon, and a collection of stories from folks committed to a healthy, well resourced, and revitalized Westside.
Fifth City Revisited Online Exhibition
This online exhibition serves as a repository of information to accompany Meida Teresa McNeal’s solo performance, Fifth City Revisited, which is co-presented by Honey Pot Performance & First Church of the Brethren.
