Dahlak Brathwaite: Try/Step/Trip
Feet pound the floor. Hands strike together. Voices call and respond. Inside Gillings ArtSpace’s intimate black box theater, you’ll be close enough to feel the rhythm.
Try/Step/Trip is a powerful assertion of the right to define yourself beyond the judgments—and systems—that would do it for you.
Try/Step/Trip uses hip-hop, spoken word, and step to tell the story of a young Black man reimagining his experience in a court-ordered drug rehabilitation program. Rooted in historically Black fraternities and sororities, step turns the body into an instrument as foot stomps, handclaps, and chants lock into rhythm.
Hip-hop artist, writer, and theater-maker Dahlak Brathwaite draws on his own history to shape Try/Step/Trip like a theatrical mixtape, bringing music, movement, and lived experience together to examine race, community, and the criminal justice system.
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Drama Desk Award nominations — Outstanding Book, Outstanding Lyrics, and Outstanding Choreography.
Friday, Saturday, or Sunday festival day pass required for the day of attendance. Seating is first-come, first-served and subject to venue capacity. A day pass does not guarantee entry; plan to arrive early.
Know Before You Go
Day Pass Required
A festival day pass gets you into every Pass Event happening that day, including this one. Day passes go on sale September 15 at noon.
Seating
First-come, first-served based on venue capacity. A day pass does not guarantee entry.
Venue
Joan H. Gillings ArtSpace at CURRENT, on UNC-Chapel Hill’s campus.
Day passes go on sale September 15 at noon.
Explore the Festival
About All. Together. Now.
Taking place February 19–21, 2027, All. Together. Now. is a new multi-day arts festival presented by Carolina Performing Arts and unfolding across Carolina’s campus and downtown Chapel Hill. Across three days of performances, conversations, and creative experiences, the festival brings artists, ideas, art forms, and people into conversation. Each year, a central idea will connect its wide-ranging experiences. The inaugural focus, Love & Hope, considers how we care for one another, build connection amid uncertainty, and imagine futures that do not yet exist.