Honey Pot Performance Opens Pleasure Power Portal, a Monthlong Exploration of Pleasure, Belonging and Black Cultural Life on Chicago’s West Side

Honey Pot Performance Opens Pleasure Power Portal, a Monthlong Exploration of Pleasure, Belonging and Black Cultural Life on Chicago’s West Side

Beginning September 26, the multi-part experience unfolds through a Second Line procession and communal gathering, intimate participatory encounters and an immersive dance theater production 

What happens when we treat pleasure not as frivolous but a source of power?

This fall, Honey Pot Performance (HPP) invites Chicagoans to explore that question through  Pleasure Power Portal, an ambitious, multi-part performance experience bringing movement, storytelling, sensory play and collective gathering to Chicago’s West Side.

Presented during HPP’s 25th anniversary year, Pleasure Power Portal explores pleasure as a force for meaning-making, embodied liberation and human connection. The experience begins September 26th with The Prelude/Pleasure Parade, a public Second Line procession and community declaration of pleasure; continues October 3rd-4th with the Aperitif an intimate, participatory experience held at a secret location; and culminates October 17th-18th and October 24th-25th with the Pre-Fixe Performance, an immersive dance-theater production at First Church of the Brethren.

Rooted in HPP’s longstanding practice of archival storytelling and community-centered performance, Pleasure Power Portal builds upon two years of artistic research, oral histories and neighborhood engagement to examine how pleasure, memory and collective gathering function as acts of cultural preservation. Through the project, HPP continues its 25-year commitment to documenting, preserving and activating Black cultural life—not simply as performance, but as a living archive created by the communities themselves.

Developed in partnership with First Church of the Brethren in Fifth City, the project also reflects HPP's continued investment in the neighborhood's cultural history and future. Longtime residents and newcomers alike are invited to consider how shared experiences of joy, ritual and creativity help shape belonging while reclaiming narratives often overlooked in conversations about Chicago's West Side.

“Pleasure is not frivolous; it is a cultural practice and source of power,” said Meida McNeal, Artistic Director of Honey Pot Performance. “It’s one of the ways communities sustain relationships, carry memory and imagine new possibilities. Pleasure Power Portal invites people to gather around that idea and consider what pleasure can make possible individually and collectively.”


THE PLEASURE POWER PORTAL EXPERIENCE

Registration, ticketing and location details vary by experience. Additional information is available at honeypotperformance.org/events.

•             September 6, 2026: The Prelude – The Pleasure Parade

A Second Line procession will transform the outdoor space and garden at First Church of the Brethren into a setting for movement, music and celebration. The public procession will bring artists and community members together for a street-party-inspired declaration of pleasure, opening a month of artistic exploration across the West Side. The experience will conclude with a communal, long-table dinner centered on gathering, conversation and fellowship.

•             October 3-4, 2026: The Apéritif

Held at a secret location and available through limited registration. The Apéritif An intimate series of designed tactile experiences to encourage human connection and relationship tending. Participants will move through an interactive, art-filled environment that uses movement, sensory creative play and facilitated dialogue to invite reflection on how pleasure can be experienced, expressed and shared

•             October 17-18 and October 24-25, 2026: Pre fixe Performance

Pleasure Power Portal culminates in a colorful, immersive dance-theater production staged in the sanctuary and performance space at First Church of the Brethren.

Rooted in the sensual aesthetic of disco, the performance draws from Black social and partner dance forms including stepping, bopping, the hustle and two-step. These movement traditions will guide choreography designed to cultivate a world filled with groove, ease, intimacy, playfulness and freedom of the body.

The performance will also incorporate materials developed through the project’s creative research process, including recorded pleasure stories, archival images, video footage and a specially designed deck of pleasure prompts used to inspire movement creation. Together, these elements will form a living archive of what pleasure looks, feels, sounds and acts like when people gather to experience it individually and collectively.

The fall series will lead to HPP’s annual fundraiser on November 7th, continuing the organization’s yearlong celebration of 25 years of performance, public humanities and community-centered cultural work.

Tickets, registration and additional information can be found at honeypotperformance.org/events.

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