About the Project

While sleeping on her grandmother’s couch one night in 2010, seven-year-old Aiyana Mo’Nay Stanley-Jones was killed by Detroit Swat as they taped a segment for a reality television show. How does this happen? That question catapults the viewer into dance choreography conjured by Francesca Harper with imagery referencing the work of Carrie Mae Weems as a doorway for inspiration. This is a moment of reckoning where Jones’ future self confronts Officer Joseph Weekley for shooting the bullet that ended her young life. Francesca’s examination of this incident through kinetic energy and multiple character perspectives reflects on the media’s frenetic role in the documentation of marginalized bodies being violated for entertainment. Set to a sonic tapestry created by rock star Nona Hendryx, the expressive movement by Francesca, in collaboration with six dancers, explores what society chooses to amplify and what is made invisible.

Case Overview

There were toys on the lawn at the home. One child inside the apartment complex lay asleep on the couch as her grandmother watched television. Then, a single bullet struck seven-year-old Aiyana Mo’Nay Stanley-Jones in the head. Minutes before the fatal shot by Officer Joseph Weekley, the lead commando, a half-dozen masked officers of the Special Response Team — Detroit’s version of SWAT — were at the door, guns drawn. They threw a flash-bang grenade through the window of the lower unit and kicked open its unlocked wooden door. The grenade landed so close to Aiyana that it burned her blanket. It all happened in a matter of seconds. The swat team was being followed by a camera crew invited by the officers to capture footage to feature on A&E’s produced police reality show, The First 48. A&E had featured Weekley before, on another police show, Detroit Swat. The swat team was looking for a murder suspect who lived one floor above. The suspect was arrested minutes after Aiyana was killed.  

Production Credits:

Choreographed and Directed by Francesca Harper
Original Music by Nona Hendryx
Lighting Designer: Itohan Edoloyi
Costume Designer: Elias Gurrola
Projection Designer: Allison Costa
Assistant Choreographer: Eriko Iisaku
Production Stage Manager: Joshua Gustafson

CAST:
Nicholas Begun, Spencer Everett, Eriko Iisaku, Raven Joseph, Timothy Stickney, Christopher Taylor, Brena Thomas

FILM CREW:
Co-Director: Redha Medjellekh
Assistant Director: Shuhan Xie
Director of Photography: Sebastian Rogers
Assistant Camera: Jules Rico
Hair and Makeup: Danielle Alyce
Editor: Evy Garcia
Consulting Editor: Derrick Belcham

A production of THE OFFICE performing arts + film

Live performance of THE RECKONING is supported by Works & Process and developed in Works & Process LaunchPAD residencies at Bethany Arts Community with the collaboration of Gabri Christa and The Movement Lab at Barnard College.