1st Sin, 2nd Class, 3rd World: A Choreopoem

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While a student at CUNY Hunter College, Wendy Arimah submitted a poem as a final project for the course, Women and Gender in Western Politics.  

According to her professor, John McMahon, PhD,  her piece, 1st Sin, 2nd Class, 3rd World, was the most 'powerful, affecting, insightful' final projects he'd ever experienced. He encouraged her to go further with it.  That same year she performed it as spoken word at Tagine Lounge in NYC. In March 2019, it was selected and produced as a part of  Conch Shell Productions'  Hear Her Call Theater Festival, a platform for Caribbean-American women playwrights. Most recently, Wendy directed 1st Sin, 2nd Class, 3rd World for NY Theater Festival: Summerfest at the Hudson Guild Theater in Chelsea.

Inspired by the style of Ntozake Shange of For Colored Girls...fame, and the words of Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Angela Davis and a song by Erykah Badu, 1st Sin, 2nd Class, 3rd World is a semi-autobiographical choreopoem (a form of dramatic expression combining poetry, dance, music and song. Coined in 1975 by Shange.) that responds to the antiquated and banal philosophies of renowned philosophers, Aristotle, Machiavelli and Rosseau that are unfortunately still part of today's sometimes obtuse society. 

The title was developed from ideas of how women are viewed religiously, by sexuality and gender, and globally with regard to traditions and customs.