Good Genes

Written and Directed by: sister sylvester
Lighting Design: Bruce Steinberg
Video Design: Robin Ediger-Seto
Graphic Design: efrîn nowar
Performance: Residency at Bryn Mawr College, Ensemble: Sophia Gibson; Khushi Jaising; Madeline Shuron; Aylen Phommachanh; Anna Thompson; Olivia Xing; Tina Zhong.

Good Genes is a large-scale bio-art performance by Sister Sylvester, based on DNA extracted from a hat that used to be a costume at Bertolt Brecht’s Berliner Ensemble. The audience perform their own genetics experiments, learn the stories of the humans who wore the hat, and end with a Genetically Modified Cocktail Party.

Good Genes is performed by model organisms from a genetics lab: drosophila (fruit flies); C. elegans, (microscopic worms); and E. coli bacteria, with the help of an ensemble of local citizen-scientists who, prior to the performance, engage in a Genetically Modified Theater workshop which includes bio-hacker experiments, Brechtian theory, and critical conversations on bio-tech through a feminist lens.