Behold! Highways’ Queer Fest 2019

Highways Celebrates 30^thBirthday During Behold! Highways’ Queer Fest 2019 May-June
Presenting Performance, Dance, Spoken Word,Theatre, Multi-media and more
Highways Performance Space, Santa Monica, CA
May 3 Though June 30, 2019

Highways turns 30! The performance space presents Behold! Highways’ Queer Fest 2019 May-June, its annual queer theatre arts festival, which appropriately collides with the enduring creative space’s 30^thbirthday. From May 3^rdthrough June 30, 2019, two months of new LGBTQ work will be presented by Highways’ extended family of artists, writers, performers such as legacy (?)artist Tim Miller(a founder and original Co-artistic director), OG AIDS activist (please edit/improve) Michael Kearns, ADD JUST A FEW MORE BIG NAMES HERE… plus new/younger artists….During the two month festival, several DIRTY 30 events will be intersperse for maximum reflection to honor and celebrate Highways’ rich 30-year history of significant contributions to the cultural landscape of Los Angeles. Highways’ DIRTY 30Birthday celebration launches the festival on Friday, May 3^rdwhich will include a pre-show Meet the Behold! Artists Reception. Highways Performance Space is located at the 18th Street Arts Center (1651 18th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90404). Tickets for all performances are available online at www.highwaysperformance.org.

Fri. May 3

DIRTY 30

8:30 PM

You’re Invited to Highways’ 30th Birthday! Join us for a pre-show Meet the Behold Artists Reception followed by Performances curated by Highways with Marval A Rex.

Performers:

Peter Kalisch  https://queerbiennial.org/peter-kalisch

Bully Fae Collins https://vimeo.com/user4735017

CELESTE / PRINCEST https://soundcloud.com/b0y_eater13

Matt Savitsky  http://mattsavitsky.com/

Marval A Rex and Oscar David Alvarez as fagpussytool http://marvalarex.com/dildo-tech-tonics-2017–ongoing

Van Jazmin https://queerbiennial.org/van-jazmin

Raegan Holiday  https://www.instagram.com/reaganholiday/?hl=en

With DJ’s: Lucy Lucifer and Lisa Gambletron

And Dancers: Jon Vazgar and Jordi Sunshine

$30/$25

Sat. May 4

A BODY IN THE O

A New Performance (and Book)

by Performer TIM MILLER

Come celebrate Highways 30th birthday and climb along with performer Tim Miller inside the giant O of the Hollywood sign – or as Shakespeare called it “the wooden O” of the theatre- as Miller performs a new work created from his brand new book of performances and stories A BODY IN THE O .

Jumping off from a day in 1984 when Miller scrambled up inside of the O of the Hollywood sign and imagined the performance space tree house of his dreams (Highways), A BODY IN THE O journeys through the hoops of the Department of Homeland Security, a queer boy choking in L.A, the human hearts mysterious Os and finally a wedding day as Miller imagines the full possibility of performance that changes the world inside these wooden Os!

“For an entire generation of queer artists working in the experimental theater world—including me—Tim Miller led the way. His imagination, daring and vision continue to inspire us.”—Moisés Kaufman, author of The Laramie Project

TIM MILLER is an internationally acclaimed solo performer. Hailed for its humor and passion, Miller’s solo theater works have been presented all over North America, Australia, and Europe at such prestigious venues as Yale Repertory Theatre, the Institute of Contemporary Art (London), the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He is the author of the books SHIRTS & SKIN, BODY BLOWS and 1001 BEDS, which won the 2007 literary prize for best Drama-Theater book from Lambda Literary Foundation. Miller has taught performance in the theater departments at UCLA and at Cal State L.A.. He is a founder of two of the most influential performance spaces in the United States: Performance Space 122 on Manhattan’s Lower East Side and Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, CA. He can be reached at his website:

www.TimMillerPerformer.com

$30

Post show book sales and signing.

Fri & Sat, May 10 & 11

8:30 PM

Moises Josue Michel: Curator

QUEER / sweat dance fest

Friday: COLD! sweat

Saturday:  HOT! sweat

▪Ironstone Dance

▪bbmoves Bernard Brown

▪Cacia Lacount

▪Luke Dakota Zender

▪IIIsquared

$25/$20

Both nights $40/$30

Tues May 14

7 PM

MARIA IRENE FORNES

MAESTRA: A Happening

This a free event.

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Fri & Sat May 17 & 18

8:30 PM

Sean Dorsey Dance

BOYS IN TROUBLE

Trailblazing transgender choreographer Sean Dorsey returns to the stage with BOYS IN TROUBLE, a new evening of dances that unpack masculinity with unflinching honesty – from unapologetically trans and queer perspectives.

True Transsexual Confessions. An unabashed love letter between queer Black men. A sendup of all things Macho. A queer spin on butchness. Real talk about whiteness. An invitation to look deeply at Shame. A witness to hurt and heartbreak. A roadmap for another way.

BOYS IN TROUBLE is an extravaganza of full-throttle dance, raw emotion, irreverent humor, exquisite queer partnering and super-vulnerable storytelling … all performed with Sean Dorsey Dance’s signature precision, guts and deep humanity. BOYS IN TROUBLE is available for tour bookings through 2020: please contact us with inquiries.

BOYS IN TROUBLE hits the stage as America grapples with toxic masculinity, the Trans revolution, and renewed attacks on trans and LGBTQ rights. In turns powerful, explosive, devastatingly honest, humorous and sexy, BOYS IN TROUBLE offers an urgent and timely examination of American masculinity’s deep roots in Trouble.

With stark honesty, powerful storytelling and breathtaking dancing, these dances celebrate expansive trans and queer gender expression, and move audiences to examine their own assumptions and experiences of gender.

Sean Dorsey Dance’s award-winning, multi-generational ensemble performs these athletic dances with gusto – moving seamlessly between full-throttle dancing, live speaking and intimate storytelling.

BOYS IN TROUBLE is performed by: Sean Dorsey, Brian Fisher, ArVejon Jones, Nol Simonse and Will Woodward. Original music composed by: Alex Kelly, Ben Kessler, Anomie Belle, LD Brown and Jesse Olsen Bay. Sound Engineering by Grace Coleman and Laura Dean. Lighting Design by Clyde Sheets. Costume Design by Tiffany Amundson. Technical Direction by Emily Paulson.

Dorsey created BOYS IN TROUBLE over a 2-year period, after visiting communities across the US where he hosted community forums on Masculinity, recorded interviews, and taught free movement workshops for transgender, gender-non-conforming, cisgender, gay, bi, and queer people on the masculine spectrum.

BOYS IN TROUBLE is now on a 3-year, 20-city tour. Contact us with booking inquiries.

Sean Dorsey is celebrated as the nation’s first acclaimed transgender modern dance choreographer. His works have been praised as “exquisite…poignant and important” (BalletTanz), “trailblazing” (San Francisco Chronicle) and “evocative, compelling, elegant” (LA Weekly). Dorsey has toured his work to 30 cities.

$25/$20

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Fri & Sat May 24 & 25

8:30 PM

Kyoko – Jinjabrew presents:

Asian America: The Future Is Now

Asians in America stand inside a future that has already arrived.

Through dance, movement, and meditation, using sound, poetry, spiritual tools, and healing foods, we invite you to join us for an evening where we stand in our collective power and honor the future that lives inside of each of us.

Together, we are weaving the songs of our mothers and motherlands.

We are singing the stories of migration that live in our bodies.

We are looking within to fully actualize these present moments.

We are seeking freedom from past.

We are claiming our seats of power for the transformational changes we’re calling in.

Directed by Kyoko Takenaka

Creative & Spiritual Consultant: kyoko nakamaru

Producer: Jennelle Fong

Creative Collaborators:

Gunita Collective, Charlotte Nguyen, Jenevieve Ting, Mitsuko Brooks, Gingee, Ally Vega, Paru Frances, Farrah Su, Genevieve Erin O’ Brien, Jenny San Angel, kyoko nakamaru, Jennelle Fong,  + more

Cover Image by Jennelle Fong

$25/$20

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Fri & Sat May 31 & June 1

8:30 PM

Shruti Purkayastha, Curator

FEMMECESTOR JOURNIES

$20/$15

Fri & Sat June 21 & 22

8:30 PM

Patrisse Cullors

we are in dangerous times we have to be connected

with Noe Olivas, Alex Dorriz and Foremost

Under this current administration the lives of people at the margins are most impacted. It’s our job to continue to recognize the danger so we can be closely connected to the resilience. This series is looking at the ways we are all deeply impacted by harm and how we show up despite it.

Sat June 29  8:30pm

RAINBOW FASHION SHOW

Celebrating the History and Meaning of the Rainbow Pride Flag

Sissy your walk and come ‘on, walk the Rainbow Runway.

Prizes, Scandalous Hosts, Surprise Guests, Rainbow Runway, Pop-Up Performance

Co-Presenters: California LGBT Arts Alliance

$30

Free for Rainbow Fashionistas who do the walk down the Rainbow Runway.

Sun June 30

5 PM  $20/$15

wet hankies

Sometimes they soak up more than your tears.

Written & Performed by

Michael Kearns

Staged by

Mark Bringelson

With Special Guests

(scheduled to appear)

Wanda-Lee Evans

Dean Howell

Tim Miller

Dave Trudell

and

Dale Raoul

Michael Kearns has assembled d a cast of Los Angeles stalwarts to summon the diverse stories that wet hankies will enliven —Wanda-Lee Evans, Dean Howell, Dale Raoul, Dave Trudell—stories from Kearns’ canon as well as from work that Kearns has directed at Highways. In addition to selections from his greatest hits (intimacies, Robert’s Memorial), Kearns’ will premiere new monologues that attempt to link his artistic development over three decades on the Highways stage to the roller coaster politics of LGBTQ America—“without once using the word ‘journey,’” he promises.

This autobiographical piece celebrates Kearn’s thirty year engagement at Highways. Included in the opening season of Highways was intimacies, Kearns’ landmark theatrical outpouring of HIV/AIDS’ secrets told by a cast of six outliers. Michael Kearns and company close Highways’ two-month long birthday celebration.

ABOUT:

Highways Performance Space celebrates its 30^thyear as Southern California’s boldest center for new performance, promoting the development of contemporary, socially involved artists and art forms from diverse local, national and international communities. Artistic Director Patrick Kennelly with Executive Director Leo Garcia continue to affirm Highways mission of developing and presenting innovative performance.

LINKS:
• Highways – https://highwaysperformance.org

• Behold! Highways’ Queer Fest 2019 May-June– Can you have a link to one festival page with general information? Can attendees buy a festival pass?
  • Highways Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/highwaysperformance
• Highways Twitter – https://twitter.com/highwaysps
• Highways Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/highwaysps
  @HighwaysPS

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For more information, photos, to schedule an interview or request press passes, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.