Name: “UNMASKED” with Ushiku Crisafulli
Start: 2024-10-12T18:00:00+01:00
End: 2024-10-12T22:00:00+01:00
Location: Unit 1A, Aire Place Mills, 143 Kirkstall Road, LS3 1JL Leeds, United Kingdom

$\u201cUNMASKED\u201d with Ushiku Crisafulli$

Unmasked began when Ushiku Crisafulli questioned the language around autistic enjoyment and autistic authenticity. Using this as a starting point he began with an R+D session at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre in late 2019 where he wrote the first song for what would become the Unmasked theatrical production.
As Ushiku made his foray into stand-up comedy in 2021, and created a relationship with the Bronx Memoir Project he began to fashion a show he describes as performance memoir. Utilising stand-up comedy, theatrical monologues, song, hip hop, and spoken word interspersed with improvisation to give a voice to his lived experience.
In 2021 after Nigerian artist Akilo Joseph did a stellar job on the show poster and album art, Ushiku felt compelled to add a visual arts strand to the project. He collaborated with Filipino artist Miel Miguel Timtiman to create physical masks based around special interests and made exclusively with recycled materials. This marrying of a global south perspective on sustainable practice and the social model of disability offers a new way of
looking at the world.
Exhibition
The masks created in collaboration with Miel Miguel Timtiman and the album cover made by Akilo Joseph will be paired with QR Codes that correspond to a song on Ushiku’s album The 8th Circle. The 8th Circle utilises meditative music and soundscapes that have proved soothing when Ushiku has experienced sensory overload interspersed with hip hop and spoken word. The masks are wearable and Ushiku aims to create a sensory experience that couples visual/physical stimuli with the auditory stimuli.
Schedule
6pm – 7pm: Sensory exhibition and supper.
7:15pm – 7:30pm: Warm up act.
7:40pm – 8:40pm: Unmasked.
8:40pm – 9pm: Q&A.
Book Now
The pricing model for this show is design to encourage maximum participation:
Standard ticket for the performance of UNMASKED £10
Concessionary ticket for the performance (low waged/student/disabled) £7
Full participation ticket (exhibition, supper and performance) £5