GODBODY: a ritual opera

GODBODY is a ritual opera, an ancestral (re)birthday party, and spiritually charged dance theatre. Fusing elements of Hip Hop culture, Afro-cuban and Yoruba religious ceremony and philosophy, queer joy, live painting, comedy, and poetry, it tasks itself with the making of a body without shame. The body becomes a site of divinity, emotionality, and the processing of those emotions via Black spiritual technologies.

GODBODY was developed with the support of the 2025 Artist-in-Residence Program and the Fall 2026 and 2027 Randall Bourscheidt Technical Residency at CPR – Center for Performance Research, funded, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Americans for the Arts National Arts Relief Fund, The Harkness Foundation for Dance, Howard Gilman Foundation, IndieSpace, and Mertz Gilmore Foundation.

Content Warning: There may be balloons popping.

GODBODY asks the central question, "What does it mean to birth a body free of shame?"

With this as its foundation, the series engages the body as a site of emotional processing and vessel for the divinity of self. The rich symbolism and philosophy of the AfroCuban religion, La Regla de Ocha Lukumí, become the spiritual technology with which Diovanna Obafunmilayo engages herself.

Existing joyously, and in the process, conjuring a new sense of personhood, is the imperative. The series was made in the development process of the evening-length performance, GODBODY, a ritual opera, with the support of the Center for Performance Research and The Theater Offensive.

There are two key components to Godbody. There are performances November 13th & 14th and there is an accopanying exhibition of work that is on display daily at the Multicultural Arts Center. This ticketing page is for the performances on November 13th and 14th only.

To experience the exhibition, please secure tickets through the event collection.

As part of this exhibition event, Diovanna Obafunmilayo invites audiences to be part of the ritual of GODBODY by engaging in the practice of live-art making. Through leaving impressions of their own body in oil pastel, strangers and friends alike create a group signature that they were here, a guestbook that becomes part of the larger body of work itself.

Additional Activity Days:

• Thursday, October 22nd | Public Opening
• Monday, November 9th | Artist Panel with Kamaria Weemz, Ifé Frank
• Friday, November 13 | Godbody Performance
• Saturday, November 14 | Godbody Performance & Talk-Back

Diovanna Obafunmilayo Frazier is a multimedia performance artist, Grammy-nominated songwriter, award-winning filmmaker, and poet, from Virginia Beach. Her major choreographic debut came in music video for Kehlani's "Altar." Her songwriting debut began with the gold-certified "After Hours." Her debut experimental dance poetry film, "When We Arrive As Flowers," has been screened at over 25 film festivals since its debut in 2022.

Based in NewYork, she continues to produce work that fuses all of these creative practices under an umbrella of spirituality, liberation, inspiration, and women's empowerment.

Martavius Parrish is a Black, Queer, Queens-based director, producer, and creative multipotentialite whose work spans theater, opera, music, movement, and film. He was most recently the director of the well-reviewed Edinburgh Fringe’s Letters to Joan. Prior to that, he made his Off-Broadway directing debut with Lynn Nottage’s Fabulation or, The Re-Education of Undine (which received 3 AUDELCO nominations, including Best Revival of a Play and a win for Best Featured Actress in a Play). He’s served on the artistic team for Lincoln Center Theater and has developed several new works with The Dramatists Guild, American Opera Projects, Cry Havoc, and the New York Shakespeare Exchange.

Previous Associate Director credits include the 6-time Tony-nominated revival of Into The Woods (Broadway, Limited Engagement Tour, & City Center Encores!), Once Upon A Mattress (Broadway, LA, & City Center Encores!), Ragtime (City Center Encores!), Oliver! (City Center Encores!), and Disney’s Hercules (Development Workshop), as well as productions with the McCarter Theatre Center, Cincinnati Playhouse, and Out of the Box Theatrics. He’s a 2026-2027 Roundabout Directors Group Cohort Member, 2024 Drama League Directing Fellow, & Inaugural NYU Tisch Department of Design for Stage and Film Directors Fellow. He holds a Bachelors of Science in Neuroscience from Duke University, as well as a Masters of Music in Vocal Performance from NYU Steinhardt. MartaviusParrish.com

ty ruwe they/he (Stage Manager) is a Boston born, New Haven based stage manager who is excited to be coming back home! Selected stage management credits include: Macbeth in Stride, Spunk, and Furlough’s Paradise (Yale Rep); Memnon (Classical Theatre of Harlem); The Pirates of Penzance (Cape Repertory Theatre); Fairview (Speakeasy Stage Company); Ada and the Engine (Central Square Theater); Lemonade: A Fresh Pressed Musical (Trustus Theatre). ty received his B.A. in psychology from Smith College and will soon be finished with their MFA in Stage Management from the Yale School of Drama (once that pesky thesis gets written…).

afrikah selah (they/them) is thrilled to make their ASM debut with the Theater Offensive on GODBODY! afrikah is a theatre multihyphenate whose work strives to make room for dialogue, connection, and intimacy through dramaturgy, writing, producing, and other ways to bring the work to life. Explore their love for new work and experiential art at itsafrikah.com.

Info: After the matinee performance of GODBODY, continue the ritual
with us in the gallery. We will gather for a talk-back with the creator, director, and
performers of Godbody

Event venue & nearby stays

Multicultural Arts Center, 41 Second Street, Cambridge, United States

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