Light labor

thursday April 23rd, 2026

friday April 24th, 2026

saturday April 25th, 2026

sunday April 26th, 2026

RUNTIME: approximately 70 minutes (no intermission)

This evening-length work walks the fuzzy, shag-carpet line between dance performance and narrative play, leaning into both text and movement to wonder how we handle the inevitable. Does the inevitable require speed? Practice? Does it come back easily, like riding a bike? Through the lens of an intimate relationship, the work considers an unknown future as a menace and a relief. A future we are all in, together. Join us in this search for enlightenment, but no promises we will get anywhere. The performers – Annie Morgan and Channce Williams – cycle through absurd games, unmetered time, accidental violence, and, sometimes, honest care to grapple with the unknown and build their own peculiar world.

“Garner...creates work that stands at the border of humor and tragedy and tackles topics like death and queer identity through rigorous, inventive movement and wit. ” -Dance Magazine

Choreographer, writer, and director: Hannah Garner with integral collaboration from performers

Performers of 2nd Best: Annie Morgan & Channce Williams

Consulting Director: Laura Dupper

Lighting Designer: Alexa Carroll

Stage Manager: Kaitlyn Hawkins

Assistant Stage Manager and Production Assistant: Lola Jenkins

Costumes and Props: Hannah Garner

Light Board Operator: Kaitlyn Hawkins and Lola Jenkins

Sound Board Operator: Hannah Garner

Premiere: July 2025

Light Labor received development support in the New Works Lab at Playwrights Horizons.

The “King’s Decree” scene borrows language from Samuel Beckett, specifically the phrases “namely, concurrently, simultaneously” and “outside time without extension.”

Special Thanks: Special thanks to Green Lung, Steve, and Maggie for hosting us and having us.

The creation of Light Labor began at a residency at San Jose State University, special thanks to SJSU and Chafin Seymour. Light Labor development was supported by Playwrights Horizons, thank you to Karl, Natasha, and the whole PH team.

Special thanks to early audiences of this work who provided integral feedback:

Patrick Garner, Will Noling, Nicole Lemelin,Courtney Barth, Seneca Lawrence, Ryan Yamauchi, Kaityln Hawkins, Libby Carr, Keerati Jinakunwiphat,Colleen McLaughlin, Andy McShea, Celine Maillard, Emily Kessler, Sasha Marlan-Librett, and Tariq Mitri.

Special thanks to the Garner family, Alexa Carroll, and Lola Jenkins.

Music:

Sausalito Summernight written and composed by Mark Boon and Rob Vunderink and performed by Diesel (edited by Hannah Garner)

A Summer Song written by Clive Metcalf, Keith Noble and Chad Stuart, arranged by Johnnie Spence, and performed by Chad & Jeremy (edited by Hannah Garner)

Amoree morte composed by Gaetano Donizetti, and performed by Cecilia Bartoli and James Levine

Woojamacooja composed and performed by Helen Humes and Her Orchestra (edited by Hannah Garner)

Everybody Hurts written by Bill Berry and R.E.M., string arrangement by John

Paul Jones and an orchestra conducted by George Hanson, and performed by R.E.M.

Tommib Help Buss - Remastered composed and performed by Squarepusher 

Chrome Country composed and performed by Oneohtrix Point Never (edited by Hannah Garner)

and bird sounds off of YouTube

About the Company

Led by Artistic Director Hannah Garner, 2nd Best Dance Company creates, performs, and teaches physically rigorous, sometimes virtuosic, almost always slapstick dance-plays. Based in New York City, the company believes in art-making that is exploratory, empathetic, and goofy; values feeling over reality and seeks our truest sensations over absolute truth; blends humor and tragedy while tackling “topics like deathand queeridentity through rigorous, inventive movement and wit” (Dance Magazine); and grapples with big ideas in very human (akamessy) ways.

Since its founding in 2016, 2nd Best has used its practice and platform to play out absurdist scenes: moving, performing text, singing, utilizing props, unconventionally handling proscenium spaces, and asking the audience to play active roles or even perform in the work alongside us. Excited by the unpredictability of live performance, the company builds a nexus between dance and text, humor and tragedy, viewer and performer. Hannah, in collaboration with the company, tackles big topics, plays very seriously, and leans into hunches that take us to uncertain and often ridiculous places all to ask: what does it mean to be alive?

Pursuing these interests, the company’s work has gone past the traditional dance proscenium to include collaborations in sculpture, animation, theater, film, and site-specific works. Recently, 2nd Best has been an Artist in Residence at Green Box Arts (Green Mountain Falls, CO), the Fisher Center at Bard College, Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning, GALLIM’s Moving Women Residency, Atlantic Center for the Arts (New Smyrna Beach, FL), The Croft (Horton Bay, MI),and Triskelion Arts. 2nd Best has toured nationally, taking its 2019 production RED to Montana, Washington, Oklahoma, and Texas and 2021 production Slumber to Colorado and California. Hannah’s work has been commissioned by Gibney Dance, Whim W’Him Seattle Contemporary Dance, GroundWorks DanceTheater, Kizuna Dance, The Wassaic Project, among others, as well as musical artists like Snail Mail, Half Waif, and Frankie Cosmos. The company has worked extensively in dance education with all ages groups; from creating work on the seasoned college dancers of SUNY Purchase, NYU, The Hartt School, and San Jose State University, to creative process explorations to high schoolers at The Dalton School (NYC), to open level community class for non-dancers at Oklahoma Contemporary Art Center, to reimagining rigorous dance technique for older adult dancers at Christ Church in Greenwich, CT, they relish any chance to be in community with students hungry for dance. 2nd Best employs a maximalist approach to touch on many ideas all at once and is not interested in limiting what happens in a dance context to classical dance performance. By expanding the Western, Eurocentric, and often-exclusionary umbrella of “contemporary dance,” Garner and her collaborators find new life, excitement, and truth in the form. The company’s recent work has leaned into examining social progress and the desire for forward or upward motion, asking if pushing in one specific direction is always the answer and exploring ways we find intimacy and move through relationships.

Join our mailing list!

Hannah Garner

Hannah, named a 2025 Princess Grace Award recipient in Choreography and Dance Magazine “25 to Watch” in 2020, graduated summa cum laude from SUNY Purchase, earning a BFA in Performance and Composition and a minor in Arts Management. Hannah has worked with

Doug Varone, Raja Feather Kelly, Sue Bernhard Danceworks, Megan Williams Dance, and Rovaco Dance Company, among others, in venues such as The Joyce Theater, New York City Center, the Park Avenue Armory, and New York Live Arts. Her work as 2nd Best Dance Company has been commissioned nationally by leading contemporary dance companies and has appeared on theater stages and on film. In addition to her performing work, Hannah finds a creative home in teaching: she has served on the dance faculty of SUNY Purchase, Bard College, The Dalton School, and Gibney Dance Center. Recent credits include commissions by Whim W’Him Seattle Contemporary Dance and Gibney Presents, a 5 week residency at American Dance Festival, movement direction for Off-Broadway play Calf Scramble by Libby Carr, and a tour to Colorado and California. She also sat on the Bessie Selection Committee for 2023-2024. Hannah is deeply affected by the weather and how the trains are running.

Annie Morgan

Annie hails from Birmingham, Alabama where she studied at the Alabama School of Fine Arts. She continued her studies at Point Park University’s Conservatory of Dance where she received the Loti Falk scholarship and graduated with a BFA in dance. In 2018, Annie joined GroundWorks DanceTheatre as a Dance and Teaching Artist. While dancing for GroundWorks, she worked collaboratively with artists such as Hannah Garner (2nd Best Dance Company), Banning Bouldin, Robyn Mineko Williams, James Gregg, Dianne McIntyre, Brian Brooks, Adam Barruch, Amy Miller, Antonio Brown and David Shimotakahara. In 2020, she was named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch.” Currently, Annie performs as a freelance dance, acting, and teaching artist in NYC. She is a Community Actionist for Gibney Dance’s Hands Are For Holding community programming. Recent performance credits include Mark Morris’ The Hard Nut, NVA & Guests, Poppy Gordon and Aldo Arias’ short film, Intimité, Terre Dance Collective, and playing ‘Isabella’ in Matt Stone and Trey Park’s Casa Bonita immersive Show.

Channce Williams

Channce Williams is a freelance artist living in New York, born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. His creative practice encompasses elements of movement, poetry, and visual art. He began his training at the Center of Creative Arts and continued his studies at Point Park University, where he received his BFA. Throughout his endeavors he has performed both new and restaged works by Kyle Abraham, Sidra Bell, Aszure Barton, and Maxine Doyle, among others. He has worked professionally with Sidra Bell Dance New York, GALLIM Dance Company, and Tanztheater Wuppertal, along with a cohort of independent choreographers including slowdanger, Valentina Baché, Demetris Charalambous, and Kashia Kancey.

Laura Dupper

Laura Dupper is a NYC-based director originally from Tennessee. She has worked at Manhattan Theatre Club, Signature Theatre, Second Stage Theater, LCT3, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Drama League, HERE Arts, Dallas Theater Center, Columbia University, New York University, Ars Nova and Playwrights Horizons; she has also worked with Playwrights Realm, Barrington Stage and Page 73. She is a recipient of the Clubbed Thumb  Directing Fellowship and directed Milo Cramer’s Business Ideas for their 2025 Summerworks. She is currently the Associate Director on Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan Macmillan at the Hudson Theatre. She has her Master’s in Social Work and BFA from Southern Methodist University.

Lola Jenkins

Lola Jenkins (they/them) is a Canadian dance artist currently based in Brooklyn, NY. They began their training at Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre in Toronto, Canada, where they performed works by Roderick George, Jennifer Archibald, José Limón, Colin Connor, Sylvie Bouchard, and Alyssa Martin, among many others. Lola continued their training at the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase College and graduated summa cum laude in May 2025. They are also a 2025 Springboard Danse Alumni. Lola has performed work by Hannah Garner (2nd Best Dance Company), Yue Yin (YYDC), Sidra Bell, Victor Quijada (Rubberband), Doug Varone (DOVA), Norbert de La Cruz III, Thomas Hogan, and Elinor Kleber-Diggs. 

Kaitlyn Hawkins

Kaitlyn Hawkins is a Brooklyn based freelance dance artist, choreographer, and stage manager who is asking questions to try and prove to herself that the statement, “I am valuable” is true. She uses text, homemade sets, and a dreamlike sense of logic to see how her understanding of herself affects her relationships with the people around her. Her work has been presented at Westfest (NYC), Greenlung (NYC), Candybox Festival (MN), Movers Make (MN), and she has self-produced shows in Minneapolis and Brooklyn. She has performed with TU Dance, Shapiro & Smith, Stefanie Batten Bland, Yusha-Marie Sorzano, Alanna Morris, Isaac Martin Lerner, Honeyworks, Sod House Theater, and Black Label Movement.

Alexa Carroll

Alexa is primarily a filmmaker and sharpens knives on weekends. She’s here because she loves Hannah.

See her work here!

THE TEAM @ green lung studio

About Green Lung Studio

Green Lung Studio was built by two artists who wanted a place to try things—loudly, quietly, imperfectly. Not a venue. Not a theater. A playground. A lab. A home. We know what it’s like to scrape by in a city that forgets its artists. So we made the kind of space we always needed—a place to test ideas. Today Green Lung Studio is ran by a group of close friends and volunteers looking to protect independent New York art spirit and culture.

Green Lung Studio has year round dance, music, cinema and more. Stay up to date at greenlungstudio.com or @greenlungstudio on Instagram.

Please consider donating to keep our space alive and growing here.