Fall gathering / Community workshop | Vanishing 5.0
12 – 2:30PM
What stories can a piece of fabric hold? What memories remain in the seams of a garment, the rhythm of a sewing machine, or the hands that once stitched thousands of pieces a day?
In 1982, thousands of Chinese immigrant garment workers, predominantly women, mobilized in Chinatown to demand fair wages and better working conditions. Their collective action transformed the neighborhood’s labor history. Yet beyond the factory floors, these women also stitched together communities, friendships, and lives across generations.
Join in-version ensemble for an intimate, behind-the-scenes sharing of Vanishing 5.0, a performance in development exploring the lives and legacies of Chinatown’s women garment workers. Ensemble members will present archival photographs, oral histories, and rare materials documenting the 1982 garment workers’ strike, gathered through their research at various historical institutions in NYC.
Following the archival presentation and a conversation about the developing performance, participants are invited to create a collective fabric collage, transforming a material once associated with labor and survival into a medium for memory, storytelling, and intergenerational connection.
Come learn, make, share stories, meet in-version’s old and new friends, and help shape a performance still in the making. Free Chinese snacks, drinks, and access to the full season!