abo U t the art IS t S
l I nda SIMPS on ( ho S t )
Since the late 1980s, multifaceted Linda Simpson has soared as a nightlife hostess, playwright, media maven (including publisher of the gay zine My Comrade ), and game show hostess ( Bingo! ). Her acclaimed documentary project, The Drag Explosion , features her photos of the New York City drag subculture of the 1980s and ‘90s. The New York Times calls her “A worldly wit… a kind of mother superior of the New York drag scene,” while Paper hails her as “the thinking woman’s drag queen.”
taylor M a C
TAYLOR MAC (who uses “judy,” lowercase sic, not as a name but as a gender pronoun) is one of the world’s leading theatre artists. A MacArthur Fellow, Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Drama, New York Theater workshop Usual Suspect and the Resident playwright at the HERE Arts Center, Mac’s work has been performed in hundreds of venues across the country and around the world including Lincoln Center, Celebrate Brooklyn, The Public Theatre, The Kennedy Center, LA’s The Theatre at Ace Hotel, The Spoleto Festival, Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre, San Francisco’s Curran Theatre and SFMOMA, The Sydney Opera House, The Melbourne Festival, London’s Hackney Empire and The Barbican and Stockholm’s Sodra Theatern. Taylor is the author of many works of theater including the soon to be produced plays, Gary , A Sequel to Titus Andronicus , Prosperous Fools , and The Fre , and many previously produced works including A 24-Decade History of Popular Music , Hir , The Walk Across America for Mother Earth , The Lily’s Revenge , The Young Ladies Of , and Red Tide Blooming , to name a few. Sometimes Taylor acts in other people’s plays (or co-creations). Notably: Shen Teh/Shui Ta in The Foundry Theater’s production of Good Person of Szechwan at La Mama and the Public Theater, Puck/Egeus in the Classic Stage Company’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream , and in the two-man vaudeville, The Last Two People On Earth opposite Mandy Patinkin, directed by Susan Stroman. judy is an alumnus of New Dramatists and the recipient of multiple awards including the Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History, a NY Drama Critics Circle Award, a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Herb Alpert Award in Theater, the Peter Zeisler Memorial Award, the Helen Merrill Playwriting Award, 2 Bessies, 2 Obies, and an Ethyl Eichelberger Award.
JUS t I n VIVI an bond
Mx Justin vivian Bond is a trans-genre artist living in New York City. As a performer both on and off Broadway, Mx Bond has received numerous accolades, winning an Obie (2001), a Bessie (2004) a Tony nomination (2007) and the Ethel Eichenberger Award (2007). JvB authored the Lambda Literary Award-winning memoire TANGO: My Childhood , Backwards and in High Heels , and has appeared in films including John Cameron Mitchell’s Shortbus , Sunset Stories , Imaginary Heroes and After Louie . Tv credits include Difficult People , High Maintenance and The Get Down . Solo exhibitions of JvB’s watercolors, sculptural installations and live art have been presented by The New School in New York City and vitrine in London. CD releases have included Kiki and Herb: Do You Hear What We Hear , Kiki and Herb Will Die for You at Carnegie Hall , Dendrophile and Silver Wells
nath ann C arrera
Described as a “heavenly” ( New York Times ), “genderdefiant” ( Time Out New York ), “glitter saint” ( Village Voice ), Nath Ann Carrera has had solo shows at La MaMa ( Death To The Patriarchal Rape Heads ), Joe’s Pub, wild Project, and the Afterglow Festival ( I Don’t Want To Throw Rice, I Want To Throw Rocks: The Early Southern Gothicism Of Dolly Parton ), sings as wITCH CAMP with Amber Martin, performs with Justin vivian Bond, opened for Martha wainwright at City winery, and has sung at P.S. 122, The Kitchen, Abrons Arts Center, Le Poisson Rouge, SFMOMA, and MoMA PS1.
t I gger !
James Tigger! Ferguson is a stripperformance artist/ actor/dancer who has performed in New York City since 1988 and around the world since 1993. A pioneer in the 1990s burlesque renaissance who won the first-ever “King of Boylesque/Mr. Exotic world” title at the Burlesque Hall of Fame in Las vegas in 2006, Tigger! has won numerous Golden Pastie Awards, including “Most Likely to Get Shut Down by the Law” and “Most Unpredictable Performer”. His act was banned in Rome. He has performed all around Europe, Australia, North America, and South America. He has acted in plays by Shakespeare, Apollinaire, Euripides, wedekind, Horváth, and williams, and in numerous original theater works with Taylor Mac, Julie Atlas Muz, and Talking Band, and with Target Margin Theater, where he is an Associated Artist.
the ho US e o F labe IJ a
Prior to the late 60s, “ballroom culture” revolved around drag pageants that were more like fashion shows or beauty pageants than what we know today as a ball. These events went back as far as the 1920s and included actual ballroom dancing. Drag queens of color weren’t often involved and rarely won prizes, but Crystal LaBeija was the exception. Crystal (who competes in The Queen as “Miss Manhattan”) made her indelible mark in the 1970s when she debuted a ball by the “House of LaBeija” at Up the Downstairs Case in Harlem. The concept stuck almost immediately. LGBTQ youth began to align themselves with houses like LaBeija’s. Before long, all of the balls were produced by houses, effectively changing the entire ballroom scene. The House of LaBeija was featured in Jennie Livingston’s 1990 documentary, Paris Is Burning . Houses were not just “teams” for competition, they were familial support systems for those displaced after coming out.
To honor the catalyst who had a part in the creative liberation of queer Poc, The house of laBeija presents The Queen’s Guar D , a voguing interpretation of that fateful night that Crystal took her leave from the pageant stage. Featuring NYC Father Freddie l a b eija , Jamil l a b eija , l inda l a b eija , Celso l a b eija and e gypt l a b eija , with music by d J w illiam
brandon ol S on
JU l I e atla S MUZ
Julie Atlas Muz hails from Detroit and is one of the most acclaimed and prolific conceptual performers and theater makers in New York. A whitney Biennial Artist, A valencia Biennial Artist, Ethyl Eichelberger Award Recipient, Lambent Fellow, and a Franklin Furnace Artist, Julie has also been deemed “Royalty of Burlesque” by the New York Times , winning “Miss Exotic world”, “Miss Coney Island” and “Queen of the Mermaid Parade” titles. In a first for contemporary Burlesque artists, Julie has franchised her award-winning acts in Las vegas ( Absinthe and Zombie Burlesque ), Dubai ( The Act ), France ( Cabaret New Burlesque ) and Australia ( Absinthe ). Last year she was named “New Yorker of the Year” by the New York Times for the Panto Jack & The Beanstalk that she created at the Abrons Arts Center with her partner in love, life and showbiz, Mat Fraser. Julie performs constantly in the nightlife circuit. You can catch her with Susanne Bartsch, at the Slipper Room, the Box or at any number of underground anti-establishments around the globe.
Touted by Paper magazine as being a “walking Circus of Creativity” Mr. Olson is indeed at least a three-ring affair, as exemplified in New Stage Theatre’s winter 2017 production of What Elsas Knew In a Peril , which he wrote, starred in, and for which he designed the costumes. New Stage tapped his talents most recently for the US premiere of Nobel prize-winning playwright Elfriede Jelinik’s Rechnitz He has appeared in Tony Oursler’s Imponderable at MoMA and played Lili in the Todd verow film This Side of Heaven Downtown Disco bunnies know him as the Ed McMahon to Nightlife legend Susanne Bartsch’s Johnny Carson. He also also performed with Taylor Mac in Karen Finley’s meditation on 9/11, Make Love . And has appeared with the English performance art sensation Jonny woo in his annual UnRoyal variety Show. He attributes the kaleidoscopic nature of the his uncharted career path largely to the mentorship and tutelage of Flawless Sabrina, with whom he had the honor of creating two shows at Dixon Place ( A Catwalk Thought and FUCKIFIKNOW! ). His work included a brief stint on Mother Flawless’s couch between other living arrangements.
Joe e . Je FF rey S
Joe E. Jeffreys is a drag historian and videographer. His drag happy video work has screened at festivals, museums and galleries worldwide including the Tate Modern, The Museum of Arts and Design and Howl! Happening. vimeo.com/joejeffreys
Photography: Linda Simpson (courtesy artist), Taylor Mac (© Luiz C Ribeiro), Justin vivian Bond (© Jess Dugan), Nath Ann Carrera (© Evan william Smith), Tigger! (© Derek Jackson), The House of LaBeija (courtesy Jamil LaBeija), Julie Atlas Muz (courtesy artist), Brandon Olson (courtesy artist), Poison Eve (courtesy artist), DJ Sammy Jo (© Gerard Estadella), Zackary Drucker (© Jaesung Lee)
P o IS on e V e
Creator. Destroyer. Shredder and petty thief. Boylesque, draglesque, performance art and puppeteer. A rare carnivorous night-blooming lily, flaunting neither falsies nor realies, this downtown stalwart has been featured in Blacklips Performance Cult, the Jackie 60 factory, and such spaces as the wild Project, PS122, HERE, St. Ann’s warehouse, the Guggenheim, and (remarkably) both The Cock and The Hole!
Za C kary d r UC ker
d J S a MM y J o
DJ Sammy Jo began his career in 1998 at Johnny Dynell and Chi Chi valenti’s groundbreaking nightclub MOTHER. Soon he was DJ’ing all over downtown New York, with residencies at such infamous places as The Cock, The Slide, and Mr. Black. In 2004, Scissor Sisters’ frontman Jake Shears invited Sammy Jo to be the tour DJ for the band, which had just begun its meteoric rise. Sammy has spent the last 13 years DJ’ing everywhere around the world, both on tour with Scissor Sisters as well as in his own headlining club gigs.
Zackary Drucker is an independent artist, cultural producer, and trans woman who breaks down the way we think about gender, sexuality, and seeing. She has performed and exhibited her work internationally in museums, galleries, and film festivals including the whitney Biennial 2014, MoMA PS1, Hammer Museum, Art Gallery of Ontario, MCA San Diego, and SF MoMA, among others. Drucker is an Emmy-nominated Producer for the docu-series This Is Me , as well as a Producer on Golden Globe and Emmy-winning Transparent .
a l I Forney Center
A portion of the proceeds from A Flawless Night: Long Live The Queen benefits Ali Forney Center in its mission to protect LGBTQ youths from the harms of homelessness and empower them with the tools needed to live independently. Since AFC’s launch with just six beds in a church basement in New York City, the organization has grown to become the largest agency dedicated to LGBTQ homeless youths in the country – assisting nearly 1,400 youths per year through a 24-hour Drop-In Center which provides 70,000 meals annually, medical and mental health services through an on-site clinic, and a scattered site housing program. donate at: aliforneycenter.org/
THURSDAY, MAY 24 2018 • 8PM
FEATURING
THE TOWN HALL ENSEMBLE
STEVEN BERNSTEIN (MUSICAL DIRECTOR), NELS CLINE (GUITAR), NATALIE CRESSMAN (TROMBONE), LAKECIA BENJAMIN (ALTO SAX), BRIA SKONBERG (TRUMPET), MARC CARY (PIANO), MARIKA HUGHES (CELLO), RICARDO RODRIGUEZ (BASS), RON BLAKE (SAXOPHONE) PEDRITO MARTINEZ (PERCUSSION), MARCUS ROJAS (TUBA), ZACH BROCK (VIOLIN). AND JT LEWIS (DRUMS).
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