A participatory performance-lecture by Héctor Alvarez, with Juniper Jones

The School of Memory is now in session. But this is no ordinary classroom. Here, memory becomes both subject and teacher. Through storytelling and guided reflection, The School of Memory transforms personal genealogy into a collective exploration of how we carry—and sometimes bury—our inherited histories.

Drawing from his family's complex relationship with Spanish Fascism and a propagandistic 1970s Franco-era television show, Alvarez weaves together intimate narrative and participatory exercises that invite audiences to excavate their own familial and national histories. Together, we'll illuminate the shadows where untold stories reside, examining not just who we remember, but what we choose to forget—and why.

Héctor Alvarez is an experimental artist from Spain working in performance, theater, film, and opera. His work has been presented in Madrid, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Mexico City. He is a Princess Grace Award Winner, Drama League Directing Fellow, Watson Fellow, and was the Theodore U. Horger Artist-in-Residence in the Performing Arts at Lehigh University in 2023-2024. He now lives in Atlanta, where he is assistant professor of Theater Studies at Emory University.

The School of Memory has been awarded the 2024 Humanity in Action Democracy Fellowship. This program brings together remarkable thinkers and doers from across the European Union, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Fellows spend one year developing projects that reimagine democratic spaces while exploring the politics of memory.