As Billie Holiday sings: The same ole story, but it’s new to me.... Using music, text, projection, and video, Past Tense is a performance/lecture that takes audiences on a deep dive into the enduring significance of Sophocles’ iconic Antigone and her profound relevance to our contemporary moment. Featuring singers Eisa Davis, Alicia Hall Moran, and Imani Uzuri, and musicians Hamiet Bluiett, Graham Haynes, Yayoi Ikawa, and Juliette Jones, Past Tense’s origins lie in Weems’ powerful work Grace Notes. Weems says, “While working on Grace Notes for months it occurred to me that I was telling the story of Antigone, wherein an innocent man dies by unjustified means and his sister fights for the right to bury him honorably. But the wider community refuses her; her right to justice, and to peace, is denied.” Past Tense premiered on the opening night of the Onassis Festival NY 2016 at the Onassis Cultural Center New York.