What to wear

In 2006 the downtown theater renegade Richard Foreman, who penned over 50 plays and nine operas across five decades, teamed up with renowned experimental composer Michael Gordon for a new collaboration. What came was a bitingly funny post-rock opera skewering the superficial pressures of society.

Now, in its New York debut as part of Next Wave 2025 and Prototype Festival, What to wear is remounted for the first time in 20 years, returned to its original Richard Foreman staging by Big Dance Theater co-founders Annie-B Parson and Paul Lazar. Audiences have a unique opportunity to see an original Richard Foreman production brought carefully back to life. In Foreman and Gordon’s pageant of seductiveness gone wrong, beauty gives way to something more transcendent—and our contemporary world of fast fashion and influencer culture renders their acerbic critiques still cutting and relevant as ever. A collaboration between BAM, Beth Morrison Projects, Prototype, and Bang on a Can, this historic re-staging honors Foreman’s trailblazing legacy, and confirms Gordon’s ceaseless musical vitality.

Featuring Bang on a Can All-Stars
Produced by Beth Morrison Projects in association with Bang on a Can
Original Production by Cal Arts Center for New Performance