If I asked you to tell me a story, how would it go? I imagine you’d think back to the beginning, take a deep breath, start with “once upon a time…” and finish with a flourish, “the end.”

But what if: you danced it? What if: you tapped it on an MPC? What if: you sewed your story into a garment? What if: there was no beginning and no end? Fedna Jacquet, artist-in-residence at National Black Theatre, commissioned and curated performative works by seven Haitian artists. Together, the artists refashioned the “single story” often told by outsiders, into something multi-dimensional, delivered in first voice. We were invited into a story of hope and reminded that liberation, revolution, and re-appropriation are communal work. The importance of collective responsibility was echoed in the variety of mediums: there is no one way, there is no one person. If we each bring what we have, we will have all that we need. When the show had finished and we took our closing breath together, we began anew, chins lifted, imbued with the honor of carrying the sky. The story of Haiti will have a new chapter.

“Myths: The People Who Carry the Sky” was curated by Fedna Jacquet, artist-in-residence at National Black Theatre, and featured performances by Val Jeanty, Dominique Morisseau, Lenelle Moïse, Julio Jean, France-Luce Benson, Qween Jean, and Atibon Nazaire in the Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center.