Part 1: Jessica Hightower
Jessica Hightower is a contemporary dance performer, choreographer and teacher. Her current work, When Grief Illuminates, is an intimate look at how grief, when given the gift of time, cracks open our capacity to love and gives light to the spaces that feel too dark and vulnerable to name. Culminating from a decades-long journey to finding light within the grief of losing her mother in her youth, the work honors how loss is both deeply personal and universally shared. Jessica is profoundly grateful to have collaborated with Jay Clarke, who composed the score for the piece.
Part 2: Aaron Peite
*read in a western accent*
Howdy partner,
Ready to start your journey out west? I won’t bother asking what you’re running from. Out in these parts you learn better to not ask yourself that question, let alone a stranger with a shiny friend at their hip.
How’s about you kick your boots up and I’ll telll you about how I found myself on this side of the fantasy. Pay attention… you might learn something about taming a bit of the wild for yourself.
It all started where the heart is.
Home.
Love was hard to come by for folk like me, tension so thick you could choke on it. That’s where I learned to keep my guard up.
I found myself needing to make a choice… Sit in my stink long enough to convince myself it’s roses… or saddle up and search for what lays beyond the horizon.
Special thanks to all those who helped me along the way. I hope our journeys never stray far from one another. To Corinn and Chapel Theatre words can never express how grateful I am to you for giving C. yoU. Next. Time. Young Cowboy a place to grow. Thank you for giving me a space where my love for this project can be seen.
I’ll see you next time.
Your cowboy,
Aaron Peite
INTERMISSION
Part 3: Taylor McDougall
Garbage Body, 2026
Choreography and dancing by Taylor McDougall and Carlye Eckert
Audio compilation by Taylor McDougall and Carlye Eckert with music by Angi Jablonski and Mazzy Star
“A weirdo at heart, I have always connected with the most absurd aspects of any given situation. Uncontrollable laughter is what I crave and as a dancer/performer, also feels forbidden. This piece was conceived with my dear friend and artistic collaborator (Carlye Eckert) through a desire to revisit our past selves, and a resulting discovery of the many identities we embody through different phases of our lives. The ways we are/are not allowed to change. Through a “variety show” format, we take a tour of the many masks we wear to satisfy those around us as we search for the real thing. The heaviness of what we carry, the uncertainty of shedding it all, the freedom of being unencumbered.”
Chapel Theatre 