Events

Catherine Gallant presents her "Escape from the House of Mercy," a dance/theater work inspired by the notorious House of Mercy, located at Inwood Hill Park in Upper Manhattan in the early 1900s.  Described as "a home for abandoned and troubled women," The House of Mercy was, in fact, closer to a prison or workhouse to which most were brought against their wills.  Inhabitants were routinely punished with starvation diets, head shaving, and restraints, all in the guise of rehabilitation.  "Escape from the House of Mercy" is a 21st century women's view of our social support systems measuring both the ground gained and the distance yet to be traveled.