I’ll Show You the Night is a 90-minute multimedia performance in celebration of cosmic darkness with Bay Area myth-makers, musicians, poets, and performers from South Indian, queer, hip hop, and folk traditions set against a spectacular journey from the Big Bang to tomorrow's dawn.
I’ll Show You the Night is also an album by Brightdarkdawn about natural darkness and our more-than-human kin that need darkness to return, to live, to find their way.
STAGINGS
2025 Chabot Program
Luna's Boat
by Brightdarkdawn / Anne Carol Mitchell
Welcome
by SJ Cook
The Myth of Chaos & Order
by Jason Wyman / Queerly Complex
Angarakam Ashrayamyaham
composed by Mutthuswami Dikshitar
sung by Sindhu Natarajan
Before This World / All My Relations
"Before This World" produced by Amani Will / Wa Ama Ni Um
"All My Relations" produced by Mario Alexander
performed by Amani Will / Wa Ama Ni Um
dance by SJ Cook
The Myth of Gnomoore / Mineral Queen
by Maya McNeil
Chandni Raat
composed by Ali Sethi, Shakeel Sohail, and Saifuddin Saif
sung by Sindhu Natarajan
Devotionally / I'd Do It Again / What Do I Do?
"Devotionally" produced by Psalm Trees
"I'd Do It Again" produced by Eem Triplin
"What Do I Do?" produced by Mario Alexander
performed by Amani Will / Wa Ama Ni Um
I'll Show You the Night
by Brightdarkdawn / Anne Carol Mitchell
Lamplit
by Maya McNeil
dance by SJ Cook
I'll Show You The Night Haiku
composed by Jason Wyman / Queerly Complex from stories shared on January 26, 2024
Omanathingal Kidaavo
composed by Irayimman Thampi
sung by Sindhu Natarajan
Sun Come Up
by Brightdarkdawn / Anne Carol Mitchell
dance by SJ Cook
Closing
by SJ Cook
Where the Love Erupts / (K)(no)w) Yes Bless Express / Thrive
"Where the Love Erupts" produced by Amani Will and RashaadxSoulNubian 2
AcroMusical produced by Amani Will and J Sky
Special Thanks to Ben Burress, Liliith Era, and Elijah Emerson.
CO-CREATORS & CONJURERS
in alphabetical order by first name
Amani Will / Wa Ama Ni Um is a Bay Area, Psychedelic, Ancient Futurist, Tender, frEQ folk, Hip-Hop Heads exploring the Universe.
Brightdarkdawn is a project of songwriter/composer Anne Carol Mitchell, a queer woman living in Sebastopol, California, cultivating food and community with her partner, 7-month-old daughter, and ornery orange tuxedo tabby. Anne crafts music with the aim of awakening care and healing for the living earth. Her music is reminiscent of folk traditions in the vein of Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell, and Buffy Sainte-Marie. She has toured throughout the western states and shared the stage and studio with notable artists including musicians Ani DiFranco and poet Judy Grahn (a woman is talking to death), as well as others. More at brightdarkdawn.com.
Jason Wyman (they / them) is Queerly Complex, an artist practicing the art of relating to one’s self, each other, and the Cosmic Mysteries. They were born upon the Land of 10,000 Lakes on what they are coming to know as Turtle Island, who settled on Yelamu, which is also called San Francisco. Their name means healer, or so they’ve been told since a young child. Wyman did not believe it until their father, Michael (Mike) James Wyman, and them mended their selves and one another as Jason’s dad died of mantle cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma across a screen and a country over all of 2020. Queerly Complex’s work has shown in homes, in public transit plazas, in secret gardens, in parks and along water’s edge, on streets and alleys, and in institutions, whose names do not matter. They are proud to be a Co-Founder of Tree of Change with Crystal Mason, a Co-Founder of the Immigrant Artist Network with Rupy C. Tut and a collective of 23 immigrant artists, and a Co-Founder of the Culture Tending Collective with Vanessa Rodrigues Minero, Wendy Martinez Morroquin, and Crystal Mason.
Maya McNeil (they/her) is a queer Scottish-American singer, songwriter, healer, and filmmaker born in Huichin/Oakland, California. Shaped by the rich and vast roots music of Turtle Island and various diasporas and homelands, they hold folk music as a political act and the precious story trove of the people. McNeil’s music and art invites listeners to open, just a little bit more, to the mystery that is ever beyond our current perception, but we feel within. Their recent full length album, ‘Waiting For The Light To Change’ is a multi genre lense on the experiences of loss, illness, radical joy, violence, the permanence of deforestation, the false power of patriarchy, and where our choices and strength lie in showing up for change, care, and a resilient future together. In song craft and in healing work, their path is dedicated to the collective healing and repairing of historical legacies recovering from our systemic separation from the Earth. McNeil is here to cast their voice and hands with grace and support for the living heart of this shifting world. Album hyperlink: https://mayamcneil.bandcamp.com/album/waiting-for-the-light-to-change Website: www.mayamcneil.com ▼ Instagram: @maya_mcneil_music
Sindhu Natarajan is a vocalist and composer, who hails from a distinguished musical lineage. She began her formal training in Carnatic music under the tutelage of her aunts, Vasanthi Kannan and Raji Gopalakrishnan, and her grandfather, P.V. Natarajan. Additionally, she studied Bharatanatyam under Mythili Kumar of Abhinaya Dance Company in San Jose. Over the past fifteen years, Sindhu has enthralled Bay Area audiences with her captivating vocal performances. Beyond her solo endeavors, she has composed music for and collaborated with prominent South Asian dance companies and choreographers nationwide. Sindhu is also a prolific independent composer, passionately creating music that seamlessly blends the intricate nuances of Carnatic music with various genres. A dedicated advocate for immigrant artists, Sindhu serves on the advisory board of The Immigrant Artist Network, where she helps foster a sense of community and empowers fellow creatives to share their unique perspectives. She currently lives in the Bay Area with her husband and two daughters.
SJ Cook aka Frankie Velvet they /them/she /her: Frankie is an artist, writer, holistic practitioner, and lover of life among other things. They tell stories and channel feelings through movement, music, and poetry. Their art is one of bending, blending, and expanding gender through evoking sensuality, passion, play, ceremony, connection and fun. They also foster events for other lgbtqia folx to come forward in their brilliance and shine, be heard and seen, such as annual autumn variety shows and is an organizer of Petaluma’s annual Pride festival.
Gather the dream seed Tend from darkness to light Regeneration /// /// /// /// /// /// /// /// /// /// Unique wanderer Under the seeding moon tonight Love wildly free
“The cosmic connection in Indian culture and music is very strong. Hindu rituals and customs always revolve around the alignment of the planets and stars. Carnatic music, the South Indian music tradition I have been trained in, has many beautiful songs that honor the celestial bodies.”
Here in Huchuin, we resonate the crystals in computers, the copper in the voice coil in the microphone, the silver in the film, the intentions in our spirits, & we ask the elementals come together with us humxn constellations to sing & praise & prose in holy ritual under the cosmos, tuning the planet in the temple
Gather the dream seed Tend from darkness to light Regeneration /// /// /// /// /// /// /// /// /// /// Unique wanderer Under the seeding moon tonight Love wildly free
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We like to think that darkness falls, but as the earth turns its back to the sun darkness actually rises from the east to wash and flood over the land & sea.
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designed by Queerly Complex