Events

Sunday, September 21
CETACEAN (The Whale)
Written/Performed/Produced by Deke Weaver
Director/Choreographer/Performer/Producer: Jennifer Allen

Performed by Laura Chiaramonte 
 

With a team of award-winning collaborators, Deke Weaver’s life-long project is presenting a performance for every letter of the alphabet—each letter representing an endangered animal or habitat. CETACEAN (The Whale) is the 6th performance from The Unreliable Bestiary. Truly interdisciplinary, 2023’s CETACEAN was a dazzling collage of lo-fi effects, story, video, sound with a large helping of dance and a dash of national park ranger talk. A Fall 2025 tour brings a condensed translation of the original show to New England, the Gulf of Mexico, and the land-locked seas of the Great Lakes. CETACEAN (The Whale) is dark, thoughtful humor for the anthropocene. 

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Farm Arts Collective

New Bedford Whaling Museum, CETACEAN (The Whale)

A Performance from The Unreliable Bestiary

Wednesday, September 24, 2025 with Doors: 6:00 PM | Program: 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM

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About the Performance:
CETACEAN (The Whale) is the sixth installment in The Unreliable Bestiary, a lifelong performance series by artist and storyteller Deke Weaver—one for each letter of the alphabet, each representing an endangered species or habitat.

Blending lo-fi theatrical effects, original video, sound design, movement, storytelling, and cinematic documentation, this condensed version offers a darkly humorous, haunting meditation on whales, oceans, and the human condition in the Anthropocene.

The original large-scale 2023 production, created in collaboration with over 850 students, was described as a “mesmerizing, operatic memorial” and a “waking dream.” This one-night-only performance brings its layered, interdisciplinary storytelling to New Bedford’s historic Whaling Museum.

Created and Performed By:

• Deke Weaver – Writer, Performer, Producer

• Jennifer Allen – Director, Choreographer, Performer

• Laura Chiaramonte – Performer

Featuring original collaborators including Susan Becker (costumes), John Boesche (video), James Lo (sound), and Jayne Wenger (dramaturgy).

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Flatlands Dance Film Festival @ Bates DAnce Festival

Bates Dance Festival is happy to partner with The Flatlands Dance Film Festival to curate an evening of screendance that touches on the themes of containment through space, place, and time as found in Onye Ozuzu’s Space Carcasses. Drawing from finalist submissions from the last three years of The Flatlands Film Festival, a BDF panel has chosen short films that highlight these themes and offer deeper insight into the intersection of dance and media. The selected films will be announced in April. 

The Flatlands Dance Film Festival is dedicated to supporting and presenting Dance Cinema, a medium that explores and innovates the intersections between filmmaking and dance making. The festival builds educational platforms, encourages dialogue, and promotes a diverse range of cultural perspectives from around the globe. Learn more about FDFF here. 

The BDF/Flatlands Dance Film Festival jury is Natalie Gotter, Onye Ozuzu, Irishia Romaine, and Laura Chiaramonte.

Schaeffer Theatre

Adult: $35
Student/Senior/Educator: $15
A limited number of $5 tickets will be available to anyone while supplies last!

Tickets on sale June 1

Sun, July 20, 7:30pm, with post-screening discussion