At Jacob's Pillow this season, a chance to see new work in a brand new theater
'To bring this five years later to the new Doris Duke — being one of the first to perform [in the theater] after being one of the last — feels surreal, a full circle, like a phoenix rising from the ashes,' says Pitts, a 2024 Doris Duke Artist. 'This work really birthed on that land.'
Touch of RED by Shamel Pitts.
Touch of RED by Shamel Pitts. The Adeboye Brothers photo.
Partly inspired by the mercurial footwork of boxing, 'Touch of RED' examines the perception of Black men in contemporary culture. Though it
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The new Duke theater's
embrace of technology is part of what makes its opening so momentous. Rebuilding the facility from the ground up allowed the Pillow to re-envision how it might best serve and inspire dance going forward. It is being touted as one of the dance world's most technologically advanced theaters, designed to help shape and inspire movement creativity as a 'living lab for the future of dance.' Pillow executive and artistic director Pamela Tatge says it can facilitate both intimacy and experimentation. 'We envision this as a maker space for new experiences that require time and resources,' she says.
Rendering of the new Doris Duke Theatre's east entrance.
Marvel/Jacob's Pillow
Nearly twice the size of the original 1990 theater and seating from 220-400 people, the new theater complements the festival's fixed 600-seat proscenium space (the Ted Shawn Theatre) and the Henry J. Leir Outdoor Stage. It will continue to host emerging and experimental companies as well as those making US debuts, while offering the technical sophistication of artificial intelligence, extended reality, robotics, and immersive platforms.
'They set out, from the beginning … to make a performance space that changes with the new state-of-the-art, because it's always shifting, faster now than ever before,' says performer/writer/artist/ Andrew Schneider, whose world premiere 'HERE' using spatialized audio opens the Duke's ticketed season. '[They] asked the artists using the newest tech — how should we build this space, what should it look like? They really listened and they really got it right.'
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Tatge says it was also important that the theater have a porous relationship between indoors and outdoors and is 'grounded in the Indigenous history of the land on which we dance.' Lead architect Francine Houben says she wanted to give dancers the possibility of moving not just in but through the building, from different sides and from above. Artists can even perform on the roof.
The weeklong opening celebration features a schedule of free events, tours of the building, state-of-the-art performances, and multimedia installations that explore the intersections of dance, technology, and the human body. 'Dancing the Algorithm,' curated by Katherine Helen Fisher for the theater's new gallery, features artists whose works illuminate the boundaries of the human body and digital expression. Cherokee artist Brenda Mallory unveils her specially commissioned 'To Touch a Wide Span' in the newly redesigned Jameson Family Lobby.
The gala opening program in the theater July 9 kicks off a performance season highlighted by world premieres and US debuts, with engagements by Pitts, Schneider, Elle Sofe Company (Norway), Eun-Me Ahn (Korea), Faye Driscoll, and Huang Yi (Taiwan). The star-studded one-night program, designed to unite past, present, and future, includes Annie-B Parson, Bebe Miller, Susan Marshall, Brian Brooks, Eiko Otake, Irene Rodríguez, David Thomson, Liz Lerman, David Dorfman, Dianne McIntyre, Dormeshia, Doug Elkins, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, among others. While in-theater viewing for the opening is invitation only, the Pillow's larger Ted Shawn Theatre, which reopened in 2022 after an $8 million renovation, hosts an on-campus screening ($75), and those of us at home can watch via a free real-time livestream (Registration for the livestream will be available at
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'I am most excited for artists and audiences to see the possibilities of this new space,' Tatge says. 'We're going to be so equipped for the possibilities of the future, and I hope artists and audiences feel that and it brings them hope at this time. … This theater belongs to everyone.'
Karen Campbell can be reached at
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Joss said that he had been using a propane tank inside the house for heat but that he had turned it off before he left. He and Kern de Gonzales soon after launched a GoFundMe to help with their living expenses. "This is a house I grew up in. I'm more concerned about my dog that died, but you know what? The good Lord will protect us,' Joss told local outlet KSAT at the time. 'Mistakes happen, man. And it's my fault for, I guess, leaving something on. Or if somebody came in and did something, who knows?' Joss was often candid on social media about their financial struggles, offering Cameos to earn revenue. He denied a rumor that he started the fire for insurance money, telling the the Bwaaa! podcast hosts that he would never kill his dogs. "My closest friend said, 'Jonathan, we know you set that fire. ... We know you did it for money,'" Joss said. "I said, 'Guys, my dogs ... were there. I would never hurt my dogs. ... I would never light my dogs on fire.'" - YouTube Just two days before his death, Joss interrupted a King of the Hill reunion panel by claiming the fire that destroyed his house was a deliberate act of arson against him because of his sexual orientation. Joss was not invited to the panel, which was meant to be a small gathering of he main cast, but attended in the audience. When one of the actors said of Joss, "We love our guy, Johnny, and so sad he's not here," he revealed himself in the crowd and took a microphone meant for fan questions. 'You were talking about Johnny, and I want to say something about him,' the panel moderator from Variety recalled him saying. 'Our house burnt down three months ago. Because I'm gay." Joss explained the moment on Bwaaa!, saying that he did not initially intend to interrupt the panel but spoke up in the heat of the moment. "The worst thing about not existing in the world is someone ignoring you when they have taken from your culture," he said. Jonathan Joss Kern de Gonzales revealed in a Facebook post that he and Joss were "involved in a shooting" when they returned to the site of their former home to check the mail. He claimed that the fire and the shooting occurred "after over two years of threats from people in the area who repeatedly told us they would set it on fire" and that despite reporting the threats to law enforcement multiple times, "nothing was done." "When we returned to the site to check our mail we discovered the skull of one of our dogs and its harness placed in clear view," Kern de Gonzales wrote. "This caused both of us severe emotional distress. We began yelling and crying in response to the pain of what we saw. While we were doing this a man approached us. He started yelling violent homophobic slurs at us. He then raised a gun from his lap and fired." "Jonathan and I had no weapons. We were not threatening anyone. We were grieving," he continued. "We were standing side by side. When the man fired Jonathan pushed me out of the way. He saved my life." - YouTube Kern de Gonzales later told NBC that he and Joss, after seeing their dead dog's skull placed in front of their burnt down home, believed it to be a message from their neighbors taunting them. In anger, Joss began shouting and walking back and forth in the street with a pitchfork. One neighbor shared a video with KSAT that shows Joss walking with the pitchfork and yelling about half an hour before his death. 'I knew something was going to happen. I wanted to call the police, but he hadn't done anything," she said. Kern de Gonzales said the suspect pulled up in his car several minutes after Joss had returned to his side. Kern de Gonzales said the man called him and his husband "jotos," a Spanish slur for gay people, before shooting Joss. 'I could give two fucks less if me or my husband had 50 pitchforks in every orifice of our body rolling up and down that street like tumbleweed," Kern de Gonzales said. "It don't matter." Bexar County Sheriff's Office via Getty Images Sigfredo Ceja Alvarez's mug shot Sigfredo Ceja Alvarez, 56, was arrested and charged with murder in connection with Joss's killing, telling officers as he was being detained "I shot him," according to the police report. The two neighbors had reportedly been feuding for over a year, with law enforcement frequently being called to Joss's residence to settle their disputes. Alvarez told police in June 2024 that Joss approached his house with a crossbow while calling him racial slurs, though Joss claimed that he walked over to "talk about their dogs fighting with each other." Upon searching Joss's house, officers found a crossbow and confiscated it. Joss accused Alvarez of being the one who burned his home down in January, according to a separate police report via NBC. The officer taking the report wrote, "I have classified this fire to be undetermined in nature at this time but cannot rule out human involvement intentional or unintentional." Alvarez posted his $200,000 bond Monday night, a Bexar County court spokesperson told Yahoo News. He is now under house arrest, during which he is subject to random drug testing and is not allowed to access firearms. NBC Jonathan Joss Multiple neighbors have said that Joss often spoke loudly and behaved erratically but that no violent confrontations had occurred until he was shot. One woman said that Joss and Alvarez would often fire guns on their own property, but never at each other. 'I've been here six years and when we moved in, it was already going on, so it's just been years of feud with these two,' she told the New York Post. 'I'm not taking nobody's side because I do have reports on both of them, but nothing got done. This man should be alive today, but nothing got done.' The neighbor who took the video of Joss with the pitchfork also said that he "was always yelling at the top of his lungs." She explained, "He would say that all the children on this street were going to die, and that we were all going to go to hell because we're sinners and God is on his side.' Another neighbor told San Antonio TV station WOAI that she had seen Joss outside minutes before his death and that he seemed upset about something. She said that he and his husband "had been repeatedly harassed because they were gay and their home was burned down after years of threats from neighbors." The San Antonio Police Department released a statement shortly after Joss's death claiming it had uncovered "no evidence" to suggest that the killing was a hate crime, which his husband's statement contested. The department later retracted its comments. Police Chief William McManus walked back the statement at a press conference Thursday while also apologizing to the LGBTQ+ community for dismissing their concerns, saying "it was way too early in the process for any statement of that nature to be issued." "We understand that many in the LBGTQ+ [sic] community are feeling anxious and concerned," McManus said. "A lot of that has to do with that premature statement that we released, and again, I own that. We shouldn't have done it. The loss of Jonathan Joss was tragic and most heavily felt by the LBGTQ+ [sic] community." McManus also clarified that the police department doesn't charge hate crimes in Texas. Instead, police "gather the facts and we give those facts to the district attorney's office; then that hate-crime designation is determined at sentencing." Kern de Gonzales had asserted in his Facebook post that throughout their time living at Joss's family home as a couple, they "were harassed regularly by individuals who made it clear they did not accept our relationship. Much of the harassment was openly homophobic." "He was murdered by someone who could not stand the sight of two men loving each other," he said. Screenshot from @prattprattpratt on Instagram Chris Pratt tribute to Jonathan Joss Several of Joss's colleagues from King of the Hill and Parks and Recreation have posted messages mourning the actor. The official social media accounts for the shows have also posted tributes. King of the Hill creators Mike Judge and Greg Daniels and current showrunner Saladin Patterson released a statement on the show's Instagram page saying that "his voice will be missed at King of the Hill, and we extend our deepest condolences to Jonathan's friends and family." Toby Huss, who voiced Kahn Souphanousinphone and Cotton Hill on King of the Hill, wrote on Instagram Story in reaction to the news,"RIP old friend. Godspeed." Chris Pratt, who played Andy Dwyer on Parks and Recreation, also posted a message to his story, which read, "Damn. RIP Jonathan. Always such a kind dude. He played Ken Hotate in Parks and was also in Mag 7 [The Magnificent Seven]. Sad to see. Prayers up. Hug your loved ones." Nick Offerman, who played Ron Swanson on Parks and Recreation, told People that the cast had been texting about the news and were all "heartbroken." He added,"Jonathan was such a sweet guy and we loved having him as our Chief Ken Hotate. A terrible tragedy."
