Interview with Ellpetha Tsivicos
- Yani Perez
- Jul 30
- 5 min read
This June, Brooklyn’s Domino Park launched Sugar, Sugar!, a new outdoor performance series transforming the Domino Square amphitheater into a vibrant hub for free art on the Williamsburg waterfront. Over four weeks, the festival presented dance, puppetry, music, and theatre, including striking solo performances that brought intimate storytelling to a large public space. The repertoire of artists included Troy Anthony & The Fire Ensemble; National Sawdust Presents Isaiah Barr, David Frazier Jr. and William Parker, plus Special Guests; Lena Engelstein & Lisa Fagan; Nile Harris; Poncili Creación; Eli Nixon; Evan Silver aka Tiresias with the play QUINCE closing the festival.
Sugar, Sugar! was organized by Public Assembly, a Brooklyn-based creative strategy and producing practice, and curated/co-produced by Ellpetha Tsivicos, an artist and director recognized for her community-centered and site-specific work. Her production company, One Whale’s Tale, is known for creating maximalist, multidisciplinary performances.
We had the opportunity to ask Ellpetha a few questions about the vision behind Sugar, Sugar!, the connection to the park, and the role of solo work within the series.
What was the inspiration behind Sugar, Sugar!? Was there a specific spark or moment that led you to develop this new performance series?
The inspiration was activating a new and vibrant community space in Domino Park. A meeting place, and an invitation to relax and experience a live performance with one of the most profound views in the city as your backdrop! Sugar, Sugar! is a new performance series in the new Domino Park amphitheatre that had its inaugural season in June of 2025. The Domino Sugar refinery is an iconic Brooklyn landmark that heralds people into Brooklyn as they cross the Williamsburg Bridge. It is old, it is large, and it was a place no one could actually go for decades, despite having such an omnipresence on every New Yorker. Domino Park has created much-needed green space on the Williamsburg coastline, and the addition of an amphitheater takes the gathering space to the next level by creating a space for art specifically.
Why is Domino Park the right space to launch this festival? What possibilities did this public site offer that felt aligned with your curatorial vision?
This festival was specifically conceived for Domino Park and to take place in Domino Park. For me, making work that is approachable and inviting in public spaces is very near and dear to my practice, which was why I was thrilled when Annabel Thompson of Public Assembly asked me to partner with her on this project as Curator and Creative Producer, in addition to helping her conceive and found the project as a whole. She wanted to create a space where all different people could come together with no barriers to experience performance, and that aligned so directly with my values, and with the work I have been making in Brooklyn and Manhattan. I have a background in site-specific, community-based performance, where cost is not a barrier. Together, we curated a dream season of multidisciplinary performances that ranged from dance, music, puppetry, immersive theater and of course, solo performance!
Sugar, Sugar! brings together solo and ensemble performances in a large public space. What made you want to feature solo performances?
We wanted to feature a wide variety of performances and mediums. Not every solo performance would be right for this space, but the ones that we chose fit in perfectly and filled the space thematically, artistically, and physically. The two solo performers were Nile Harris and Eli Nixon. Both very different performers, but full of so much life. Nile is so tapped into the current moment in the performance scene, and all the complexity of being an artist within institutional structures, which was an awesome and cheeky way to open the month of programming. His piece, aptly titled, Untitled (Theresa Buchheister), is named after the Guest Curator of his piece, Theresa Buchheister, and someone I personally refer to as the Godparent of Downtown Theater. Bringing Theresa on as a guest curator was also an honor, and a gift, and a small way of giving back to Theresa in the ways that they have given so much to New York theater and beyond. Theresa was the former Artistic Director of The Brick Theater and a founder of the Exponential Festival.
I had the pleasure of being a part of The Public Theater’s Devised Theater Working Group in 23-24 with Eli, and seeing their work in development. They were one of the first artists I thought to curate when I was given this opportunity. Eli’s piece, entitled DIY Primordial Futurism: An flamboyant invitation to celebrate horseshoe crabs and deep time was a playful, surprising, winding road of a monologue, puppet show, and suitcase theater performance that was in direct conversation with the adjacent body of water. Their piece joyfully asks us to consider our interconnectedness with the environment, time, and ritual while also embracing tangential dialogue and improvisation. Eli has a background in clown work and activism, specifically environmental activism, and having them be able to perform a piece inspired by horseshoe crabs and celebration felt very appropriate right on the water.
What kind of experience are you hoping audiences will have at the festival?
I just really wanted to give them some joy, and some community, and invite them to a really beautiful new public space. Being able to provide free art, especially performance, to the community is really profound and special. Right now, and always, I truly believe that people need communion, and that was my biggest goal with Sugar, Sugar!
What’s next for Sugar, Sugar! And for you?
Hopefully Sugar, Sugar! continues next summer, and the series continues to bring free, exciting performances to the community! For me, right now, I am working on developing some new projects with my company, One Whale’s Tale, writing a second edition of my book, “A Life Into Lands.” I’ll also be continuing my work mentoring my wonderful cohort of formerly incarcerated artists through a program I co-founded, “I Wish I Knew How”, and building on my practice as a dialogical artist by creating spaces for art, conversation, communion, and the interchange of ideas across different communities. Oh, and getting some much-needed rest!
Sugar, Sugar!’s inaugural season offered audiences an open invitation to gather, reflect, and connect through performance in one of Brooklyn’s most iconic public spaces. As Ellpetha looks ahead to future editions, the series stands as an example of how solo and ensemble work can transform everyday spaces into places of art and community.
Thank you, Ellpetha! We wish you much success and hope to see Sugar, Sugar! return next year.
June 4- June 28, 2025
Domino Park (15 River Street, Brooklyn, NY)
Yani Perez, M.F.A., is a poet, playwright, translator, and educator. Her plays have been presented in various theaters in the United States, such as La Mama and Yale University, as well as internationally in Bogotá, Colombia. She works at IATI Theater, one of the oldest Latinx theaters in NYC. She is currently working on translations of Latinx artists in hopes of introducing them to English-speaking audiences.
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