Place

Composed by Ted Hearne and created with poet/librettist Saul Williams and director Patricia McGregor, Place is a 75-minute work considering the topic of gentrification and displacement. The piece took shape as Hearne saw the Brooklyn neighborhood in which he lived rapidly transforming under the last term of Mike Bloomberg's mayorship, and as he grappled with his own role in that process.

Framed as a response to Hearne’s reconciliation of this topic, Williams challenged the spiraling narcissism inherent in the frame of white male protagonist exploring his own complicity, by kicking the subject outward to its historical and theoretical origins.

Place is a patchwork, more like a jarring, Sanford Biggers-esque quilt — the edges make it clear the materials have their own infungible properties — than a proverbial melting pot where all perspectives can combine to make a pleasant if bland smoothie.

Premiered in 2018 to rave reviews at BAM Next Wave, Place took on a new layer of meaning when scheduled performances were cancelled and the onset of the pandemic affected members of the cast in vastly different ways. While some easily sheltered in place, others faced eviction. This state of being was documented in the "quarantine version" of Place and footage from this version has been incorporated into subsequent live productions of the piece, at Los Angeles Philharmonic and CAL Performances (2022) and Festival Musica Strasbourg (2023).

Place was name a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize, and received two GRAMMY nominations for Best Contemporary Classical Composition and Best Chamber Music/ Small Ensemble Performance.