St. Theresa’s Basement

In collaboration with Sheila Poznikoff

St. Theresa’s Basement is a multi-channel video work that utilizes documentary structures to trace the private activities of a Catholic women’s group (made up of 20-30 senior citizen women). Meeting monthly in the basement of a Catholic church, the members of the group produce theatrical productions as year-end celebrations. These ad-hoc performances, produced and performed solely for one another, initiate anarchic ruptures in the codes of day-to-day behavior. Milton and Poznikoff investigate the relationship these collaborative performances have to a seemingly conflicted history of vaudeville, performance art, religious ritual and feminist practice by allowing the provisional nature of these theatrical events to take focus before the camera.