We Are Seated: Tschabalala Self’s “Sounding Board”

“A chair always implies a figure, even if no figure is occupying it.” —Tschabalala Self Artist Tschabalala Self received a commission from the Performa 2021 Biennial and wrote, directed, and designed her first play, Sounding Board . The play imagines an argument between two people in a relationship—characters A and B—navigating an existential quest within the context of the stage. Performed in Jackie Robinson Park Bandshell in Harlem, the play was Self’s first venture into presenting her art thr