In Unwelcome Guests, choreographer Shawn Rawls cracks open the emotional core of growing up as the dark-skinned stepchild in a light-skinned family. Using contemporary dance, physical theatre, and storytelling grounded in Internal Family Systems (IFS), Rawls explores the parts of ourselves we've been told to silence.
Each dancer embodies a "part" of the same person—The Protector, The Exile, The Performer—revealing what it means to survive, to split, and to heal.
Rooted in the psychology of double consciousness and Afro-surrealism, this show is raw, intimate, and urgent. It's not just a performance—it's a reckoning.
