I am Annalise Guidry, a Black and Puerto Rican theater artist-anthropologist, healer, writer, and educator originally from New Orleans based in Brooklyn, known artistically as “River,” and lovingly as “Rio.” I am raising funds to support a 6-week self residency for the development of my artistic work and the journey back to my ancestral land where - as a researcher, playwright, director, dramaturg, performer- I will devise and develop an original piece and performance in honor of my ancestral land of Puerto Rico and tell the wholeness of the Diasporican identity resulting in 2 public workshops and a first draft of performance- all self led and directed. The ultimate goal of this work is to liberate our ancestry, our land and ourselves by taking back our narrative and restoring us to truth and to each other once and for all.

I am raising funds to support this ancestral return journey. With these funds, I plan to use my time in artistic retreat to research, devise, develop, and create an original work and performance in honor of Puerto Rico as a land and body and the wholeness of Puerto Rican identity. This 6 weeks self led, community funded residency will conclude in two workshops and a first draft of performance: one workshop in Puerto Rico and one in New York to help further tell of the story of Diasporican identity, land & body. Along the way, I will post my field notes on Tiktok. Follow along if you like, support if you can!

Details:

This work requires a return trip to my ancestral land of Puerto Rico as I seek to find, liberate, and tell her story with my work as a playwright, director, dramaturg, and performer to research, devise and develop a performance to be shared with the public in Spring of 2027 in honor of Puerto Rico, land and body.

I am hoping to raise $5k to be used for the development of this work and to cover my living expenses on the island for 6 weeks and development costs. These funds would cover things such as rent and necessities for the month in Puerto Rico, my deep immersion, research and investment with my ancestral land for the artistic pursuit and development of the work as well as to fund two workshops: one in Puerto Rico and one in New York. During this time of retreat, research and development, I hope to tell the whole story of Puerto Rico and diasporic identity and find both collective and self liberation.

About me:

I am a ritual theater artist rooted in New Orleans, based in Brooklyn. Over the last 5 years, I worked in collaboration with multiple theaters and youth programs in Boston, New Orleans, and New York developing my theatrical practice and aesthetics to create Theater of Union, a cultural strategy that implements a love ethic as cultural praxis for collective liberation through theater and performance. In all my work, I center liberation serving Afro-Latinx communities during my time as an educator with Hyde Square Task Force, Company One Theater and Coalition for Hispanic Family Services. Throughout my time as an artist (playwright, director, performer, dramaturg, facilitator), I have been devoted to using theater as a tool in collective liberation serving the multiplicities of my communities as a Queer BIPOC artist through many partnerships with organizations like Company One Theater, The Theater Offensive and Fresh Ink Theater. Most notably, I opened a festival in June 2025, Queer [Re]Public festival to premier Theater of Union and “Remembrance,” an ancestral memory performance. For this festival, I was in deep residency cultivating my aesthetics and theory to create my cultural praxis, Theater of Union, while leading a cohort of artists to devise and develop an original performance honoring our many ancestries. In this residency, I held the role as director, playwright, performer and theorist. In all my work, I have been in deep study of ancestry and performance and hope to continue this work as I dive deeper with Puerto Rico. With theater, we take responsibility and control over our narrative. As we liberate our narrative, we liberate ourselves and find union, love and liberation.

By donating, you are directly supporting an independent artist as I seek collective liberation with theater as my vehicle. For more details in my previous work, please check out my website/portfolio: acguidrytheater.my.canva.site or my instagram @acguidrytheater

con mucho amor,

Annalise/Rio