Let this be a record, to keep and to build upon.
Dive into the currents of time.
PORT(AL), a mesmerizing choral theater experience unlike any other, opens a hidden doorway to the past within the depths of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Premiering in May 2025, this immersive journey, crafted by the GRAMMY Award-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus, invites you to navigate the eddies and flows of history, where the voices of forgotten lives echo through the ages.
Conceived by Dianne Berkun Menaker and brought to life with renowned artists Paola Prestini, Jad Abumrad, and Jessica Grindstaff, PORT(AL) transforms the cavernous Agger Fish Building into a vessel sailing the seas of time. Peer through windows into bygone eras, where the legacies of legendary figures like historian Howard Zinn and activist Clarence L. Irving, Sr. ripple through the currents. Discover the hidden depths of the Navy Yard's past, where the trailblazing spirit of machinist and drag king Rusty Brown and the pioneering voice of mezzo soprano Eugenia Farrar surge like tidal waves.
Port(al) is a living museum, with Brooklyn Youth Chorus as the primary guide.
PORT(AL) doesn't merely anchor you in the past; it opens a portal to the uncharted waters of the future. As the Chorus navigates the swells of anxiety and the tides of hope that define a generation on the brink of transformation, their voices intertwine with the whispers of yesterday, creating a powerful current that propels us forward.
Audiences will explore the space as the Chorus builds a record for people now and in the future to walk through to understand the past - and what is now the present- from where will they stand in 50, 60, or even 100 years.
A secondary audio guide/voiceover will provide context. The chorus and the voiceover guide will share details about the people and places of the Navy Yard over centuries, including through their sounds.
Prepare to be transported. PORT(AL) is not just a performance; it's an immersive passage through time, where the boundaries between eras dissolve and the enduring spirit of the human story sets sail. Step through the doorway and discover a world where history comes alive, where every voice adds to the symphony of time.
THE VOICES OF BROOKLYN TODAY
Interwoven throughout the entire piece, as something that surfaces and recedes, and becoming more prominent as the work draws to its conclusion, are the individual and collective voices of the Brooklyn Youth Chorus speaking to their relationship to their very own time and place in history.
What do you hope for?
“There’s hope in living in the present”
“People can heal themselves”
“There’s an ebb and flow to just being able to be alive, constant, calm”
“The idea that this space holds multitudes of histories and perspectives was interesting to us, and the project became like a séance in a way: you walk into a space and try to listen to the whispers. The piece is, in a way, trying to bring the dead back to life, and have kids respond to them, sing to them, from where they are.”
— Jad Abumrad, Composer and Librettist
