From the moment Mary Girard is strapped into the “Tranquilizing Chair,” a square wooden box clamped shut over her head, the one-act play based on a real-life story makes its central conflict clear: authority overpowering autonomy.

As the music shifted from classic film scores to bass-heavy remixes, audience members seated along a makeshift aisle turned in unison toward the back of Roone Arledge Auditorium. When the first look appeared—its tassels catching the light and its sleeves extending movement beyond the body—the direction of the night snapped into focus.

Tucked inside Teachers College, the Macy Art Gallery is easy to miss for those who don’t know where to look. Inside is a space that feels anything but hidden—bright lights, steady chatter, and a small but engaged crowd animate Erika Vogt’s “Mothers.”

Beneath flickering fairy lights and a banner hung against exposed brick, shifting time signatures and jazz harmonies filled the basement of St. Paul’s Chapel—transforming the space into a pulsing, low-lit workshop of rhythm and risk.