Next Performing Arts | Theater

Jenn Kidwell and the blackening

The Flea's production of 

we come to collect: a flirtation, with capitalism

Midwest Premiere

Two actors stand on stage wearing colonial wigs made of cardboard and holding parasols.

Weaving stand-up comedy, performance art, and the carnivalesque, this evening of hysterical undertakings debunks the alluring tale of American economic might.

Obie Award–winning artist Jenn Kidwell and ASL artist Brandon Kazen-Maddox invite you to roll in the pigsty of American consumerism in we come to collect: a flirtation, with capitalism. Dark, funny, incisive, and just a little bit misbehaved, Kidwell’s interrogation of capitalism and her place within it is unforgettable. Kazen-Maddox acts as Kidwell’s accomplice; their expressive performance in ASL weaves sign language seamlessly into the narrative and choreography of the piece. The performance holds a mirror up to the present moment and the audience (literally). Beneath the laugh-out-loud humor is a proposition: f*ck work, chase your dreams, and believe that you are a miracle. Come ready to laugh and leave seeing your worth in a new light. (program approx. 90 mins. no intermission)

we come to collect was created in collaboration with the blackening, a group of highly creative, hopefully cynical, dreaming miracles whose DNA runs all over this work. 

IMAGE CAPTION
We Come to Collect, courtesy of Julieta Cervantes.

"we come to collect is not a play, per se—it is an encounter. A reckoning. A party with teeth. A love letter in disguise. It is also, quite simply, a damn good time"
TheaterScene.net

Artistic Team

Performers: Jennifer Kidwell and Brandon Kazen-Maddox 
Writer, Director, Performer: Jennifer Kidwell 
Codirector: Adam Lazarus 
Dramaturg & Interdisciplinary Performance Doula: jaamil olawale kosoko 
Scenic Concept: Jian Jung 
Lighting Designer: Evan Spigelman 
Sound Designer: Jordan McCree 
Video Designer: Matthew Deinhart 
Props & Objects Designer: Petra Floyd 
Original Music: Juliette Jones and Jarvis Benson 
Stage Manager: Lisa McGinn 
Creative Producer: Jecca Barry 
Production Manager: Brian Freeland 
Director of Artistic Sign Language: Patrice Creamer 
Scenic Builders: Parrish Productions 
Tour Producer: Jecca Barry / Fin Productions

About the performers

Jennifer Kidwell

Jennifer Kidwell (instigator, writer, performer) is a performing artist with a penchant for getting people to do things they never thought they’d do. Recent original projects include Those With 2 Clocks (The Wilma Theater) and Underground Railroad Game (2017 Obie Award for Best New American Theatre Work; 2018 Edinburgh Fringe First Award; Lucille Lortel, Helen Hayes nominations). Kidwell is currently collaborating with Chef Laquanda Dobson on Giving Thanks and with Ars Nova Workshop/Immanuel Wilkins on Recess. Recent performances include The Welkin (Atlantic Theater Company); Ocean Filibuster (PearlDamour); Eternal Life Part 1, Fat Ham (2021 film), and Antigone (The Wilma Theater); Syllabus for Black Love (jaamil olawale kosoko); Home (Geoff Sobelle, 2018 Bessie Award); Adrienne Truscott’s Still Asking for It (Joe’s Pub); and Superterranean, Fire Burns Hot: Little Reno!, I Promised Myself to Live Faster, and 99 Break-Ups (Pig Iron Theatre Company). Kidwell has been published in Black Body Amnesia: Poems and Other Speech Acts, in Movement Research Performance Journal #45, and at hyperallergic.com. She was a 2020 Visiting Artist at Duke University and a 2021 Visiting Artist at the University of Pennsylvania. She received a 2013 TCG/Fox Resident Actor Fellowship, 2015 and 2021 Leeway Foundation Art and Change Grant, 2016 Pew Fellowship, 2017 Independence Fellowship, 2020 Ruthie Award, 2020 Hodder Fund Grant, 2023 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grant, and 2025 Helen Merrill Award.

Brandon Kazen-Maddox

Brandon Kazen-Maddox (they/them) (ASL artist) is a choreographer, dancer, actor, filmmaker, and third-generation heritage signer raised in a culturally Deaf household. Their work centers Deaf, disabled, BIPOC, and LGBTQAI+ communities through inclusive, interdisciplinary performance in American Sign Language, spoken English, and simultaneous communication or SimCom. They have shared their story nationally, including at TEDx, the Getty Museum’s Day of Unreasonable Conversation, NASPA, and PBS’s Stories from the Stage. Their work has been recognized with a Creative Capital Award, NEFA NDP Grant, Mertz-Gilmore Foundation Grant, Gucci’s Chime for Change, and the Times Square Midnight Moment (“Georgia”). Television credits include The Good Fight, High Maintenance, and PBS’s Brief but Spectacular. As a 2024 WNET/ALL ARTS artist in residence, their 30-minute special SOUL(SIGNS): Making Music Visible premiered in April 2025. Theater and dance credits include Bill T. Jones’s Deep Blue Sea (Park Avenue Armory) and Fresh Tracks (New York Live Arts). Kazen-Maddox holds an MFA from NYU Tisch and is a cofounder of Up Until Now Collective.

Program Support

we come to collect was commissioned by Woolly Mammoth’s Weissberg Commission program and developed with support from MCA Chicago, the Ucross Foundation Residency, Under the Radar’s UFO series, Venturous Theatre Fund, Subcircle Residency Program, Northwestern University, the Hiatt Family, and The Flea. The world premiere took place at The Flea on August 30, 2025.

PERFORMING ARTS PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY

Doris Duke Foundation

WEXNER CENTER PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY

Greater Columbus Arts Council

Ohio Arts Council, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts

CampusParc

The Columbus Foundation

The Ohio State University

Wexner Center Foundation Board

With special thanks to our members

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Jenn Kidwell and the blackening