La MaMa Blogs: January 2014

Friday, January 31, 2014

Photo Preview: RUMORE DI ACQUE (NOISE IN THE WATERS)







Photos by Jonathan Slaff

La MaMa presents 
Rumore di acque 
(Noise in the Waters) 
By Teatro delle Albe 

January 30 – February 16, 2014 

Written and Directed by Marco Martinelli 
Devised by Marco Martinelli, Ermanna Montanari 
English translation by Thomas Simpson 
Performed by Alessandro Renda 
Original live music by Fratelli Mancuso 

Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays @ 7:30pm 
Sundays @ 2:30pm 

Tickets: $18 Adults; $13 Students/Seniors; a limited number of $10 tickets are available, in advance, as part of La MaMa's 10 @ $10 ticketing initiative. Not available day of show. 


For Tickets and Info: Click Here 


Thursday, January 30, 2014

Fundraising Performance of THE WONG KIDS for Randy Gener


La MaMa  will be holding a special Fundraiser Performance of Ma-Yi Theater Company's THE WONG KIDS on Wednesday, February 12th @ 7:00PM towards our friend Randy Gener's medical expenses. 

 On January 18, Randy was assaulted in Manhattan. He is said to have suffered severe head trauma, from which he is currently recovering in the Neuro ICU. 

All net box office proceeds from this fundraiser performance will go to benefit The Randy Gener Fund

Please join us at the theater on February 12th by purchasing your tickets: HERE.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Rumore di acque (Noise in the Waters)


The published text for Rumore di acque (Noise in the Waters) just arrived.  And this excerpt is from the introduction:
Now rumore di acque arrives in New York….to La MaMa, forever a symbol of Theatre that doesn’t give up.  To put it in black and white terms, we can say that there are two ways to do Theatre in this world. One is what we call show business. There is another type, though, which combines head and heart, emotion and reason, enchantment and rebellion.  A Theatre that, following the vision of Augustine of Hippo, and African theologian of the 5th century, embraces the challenge of Hope, who is said to have two children: Scorn for the way things are, and Courage to try to change them.  Cheerfully heretical. La MaMa belong to this second way of doing Theatre.
Thanks for the lovely words, Marco!

The books will be available for purchase at the theatre before and after performances of Rumore di acque (Noise in the Waters).

La MaMa presents 
Rumore di acque 
(Noise in the Waters) 
By Teatro delle Albe 

January 30 – February 16, 2014 

Written and Directed by Marco Martinelli 
Devised by Marco Martinelli, Ermanna Montanari 
English translation by Thomas Simpson 
Performed by Alessandro Renda 
Original live music by Fratelli Mancuso 

Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays @ 7:30pm 
Sundays @ 2:30pm 

Tickets: $18 Adults; $13 Students/Seniors; a limited number of $10 tickets are available, in advance, as part of La MaMa's 10 @ $10 ticketing initiative. Not available day of show. 

For Tickets and Info: Click Here

BroadwayWorld on 39 DEFAULTS!


BroadwayWorld reports on the opening of 39 DEFAULTS this Friday at The Club @ La MaMa:
The Club at LaMaMa ETC will provide the unique theatrical setting to ensure that audiences sitting in close proximity of the play's action will have a near voyeuristic experience.The piece features an innovative and interactive set design by Feli Lamenca and a staging by director Julian Mesri that encourages the audience to push the relations between spectator and participant, sharing their world with the performers Kelly Haran and Pep Munoz.

La MaMa presents 
Fifth Wall's production of 
39 Defaults 
by Mar Gomez Glez 
directed by Julián Mesri 
Performed by Pep Muñoz and Kelly Haran 

January 31 – February 9, 2014 
Fridays and Saturdays at 10pm; Sundays at 5:30pm 

Tickets: $18 Adults; $13 Students/Seniors; a limited number of $10 tickets are available, in advance, for every performance as part of La MaMa's 10 @ $10 ticketing initiative, on a first come, first served basis. Must be purchased in advance - not available day of show. 

For Tickets and Info: Click Here

The Wong Kids...Photo Preview

Performances Begin Tonight!






La MaMa presents
The Ma-Yi Theater Company production of
The Wong Kids 
In The Secret Of 
The Space Chupacabra 
Go!
by Lloyd Suh
directed by Ralph B. Peña

Co-created by the Children’s Theatre Company
and in partnership with The Ensemble Studio Theatre

January 28 – February 16, 2014

Adults: $30 (Previews $25)
Students/Seniors: $20
Children Under 10: $10
A limited number of $10 tickets are available to everyone, IN ADVANCE for every performance as part of La MaMa's 10 @ $10 ticketing initiative. Not available day of show.

For Info and Tickets: Click Here

Monday, January 27, 2014

Understanding Obamacare for Downtown Artists

Community Board 3, HOWL! H.E.L.P*, Bowery Poetry Club, Fourth Arts Block, GOH Productions, Jackie Factory, La Mama, Performance Space 122, Poetry Project, TWEED Theaterworks, Vangeline theater 
invite you to a FREE Actor’s Fund Workshop: 
Understanding Obamacare 
& the Affordable Care Act 
Find out if you’re eligible for free or low-cost insurance. 

Thursday January 30, 2014 7 – 8:30 PM 
Saint Marks Church – Parish Hall 


RUTH MALECZECH MEMORIAL

RUTH MALECZECH MEMORIAL 


PLEASE JOIN RUTH'S FAMILY AND FRIENDS 
AS WE CELEBRATE HER LIFE AND LEGACY. 


Monday, March 24, 2014 
 7:00PM 
 The Ellen Stewart Theater 
at La MaMa 
66 E 4th Street
(Between 2nd Avenue & Bowery)
New York, NY 10003 

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Artist Interview: M Lamar

SURVEILLANCE PUNISHMENT AND THE BLACK PSYCHE

January 24-26, 2014 | The Club at La MaMa 



photo by Blioux

M Lamar talks to Sam Alper about performance, comic books and who we really love.


Are you excited for your show? Any feelings about doing it at La MaMa, in particular?

One of the things that excites me about the idea of performing at La MaMa is that when I moved to New York seven and a half years ago it was really to do shows at places like La MaMa, or the Kitchen, or PS122, Dixon Place. These places that have a history of showing work that I thought was really important. Or at least that was important to me, even though I wasn’t born yet when most of that work was made. The history of La MaMa is especially poignant to me because of Meredith Monk's history with the theater.

I’m just so thrilled that I get to have a platform to do work that I think is a little more challenging - where the audience isn’t just getting into this party. It’s not like you get to laugh and have ideas that you believe affirmed. Sometimes a lot of theatre in the downtown context involves a sort of Bohemian sensibility / liberal sensibility where audiences are going to these shows to have their lifestyle and viewpoint reaffirmed. There is nothing wrong with that but I think my works hoovers in a different place where I think you may come away not sure what you feel about a whole host of issues. In my work there are no easy answers. 

One of the big reasons I’m excited about the show is that in many ways it’s the show i always wanted to do since I started performing when I was 19 or 20, but I haven’t been able to do until now because I didn't have enough information or enough technical skills. It brings together so many ideas that have been so central to my work. So I’m really excited to get to do what it is that I do and really get at the core of many of the ideas that have been floating around in my work for over a decade.


It seems like you’re getting at the basic mission of La MaMa - it’s a theatre for the artist. It’s not for the audience, in terms of like, a service relationship. It’s for you to challenge or - do whatever you want.

I completely agree. I always have to be my first audience.  I to be making with what I want to hear and see first. At the same time, I do think there’s something there for the audience - for an audience that wants to think and wants to be moved and go on a different kind of journey. I’m thinking about history a lot - at the core of my work are these historical narratives. And that’s been going on in my work since - When I was making visual art back in art school. So there’s an interest in history - and history is always now -, the plantation is always now,- and having these moments where you get to contemplate that in a very interracial context is very American.

Leslie Lee (1935 - 2014)

Photo Credit: Carmen L. de Jesus 

We are saddened to learn of the passing of playwright Leslie Lee.  We are proud to have presented some of his plays at La MaMa including Elegy For A Down Queen and most recently The Book of Lambert in 2009.   He will be greatly missed.

The Wong Kids...on NY1!


Alton Alburo and Sasha Diamond from "The Wong Kids in the Secret of the Space Chupacabra Go!," appear on NY1 with Shelley Goldberg!


La MaMa presents
The Ma-Yi Theater Company production of
The Wong Kids 
In The Secret Of The 
Space Chupacabra 
Go!
by Lloyd Suh
directed by Ralph B. Peña
Co-created by the Children’s Theatre Company and in partnership with The Ensemble Studio Theatre

January 28 – February 16, 2014

Adults: $30 (Previews $25)
Students/Seniors: $20
Children Under 10: $10
A limited number of $10 tickets are available to everyone, IN ADVANCE for every performance as part of La MaMa's 10 @ $10 ticketing initiative. Not available day of show.

For Info and Tickets: Click Here

The Praise Keeps Coming For Peggy Shaw's RUFF



“She’s an inspiration.” 
- Jill Dolan, The Feminist Spectator 

“I am smitten….this performance could, and should, be seen as one of quiet charms and a sort of honoring of a performance milieu and style and community. Women speaking to women, lone voices reaching out to embrace other human beings, a pared -down sensibility telling a tale of self-revelation through poetic words, through sharing a shoe or an orange or a piece of clothing with the audience (later to be delivered to the performer). Small acts of connecting adding up to a big theatrical heart that beats constantly and loudly for audience members smart enough to make their way to La MaMa before this show closes.” 
- Martha Wade Steketee, Urban Excavations 

 “5-STARS...Brava, or should I say Bravo to Peggy Shaw, the butch lesbian Sean Penn look-alike for her solo show 'Ruff'.” 
- Taffy Jaffe, The Front Row Center 

"The great Peggy Shaw returns with an acclaimed solo show that celebrates creativity in the midst of aging and infirmity." 
- Andy Buck, Theater Is Easy

Final 4 Performances! 


Thursday, January 23rd @ 7:30pm 
Friday, January 24th @ 7:30pm 
Saturday, January 25th @ 7:30pm 
Sunday, January 26th @ 2:30pm 

Tickets: $20 Adults; $15 Students/Seniors 

For Tickets: CLICK HERE

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Coming Soon to The Club @ La MaMa: 39 DEFAULTS


Ricard Neun is a Spanish social activist. He has defrauded 39 banks in Spain. He claims this is not a crime, but a general call for financial disobedience. He is travelling around America giving lectures about this “action”. In New York he gives a talk and meets Liz, who invites him to stay at her place.

The play shows their interaction in real time. Liz asks Ricard to deliver a package for her. But Ricard, who was willing to sacrifice jail for a better society, distrusts Liz.

39 DEFAUTS is a play about idealism and human interactions, about the contrast between ideas and daily necessities.

“39 Defaults is a must-see: smart, brilliant, and reticent.”
-Franco Baldasso, Nueva York 2012

La MaMa presents
Fifth Wall's production of
39 Defaults
by Mar Gomez Glez
directed by Julián Mesri

Performed by Pep Muñoz and Kelly Haran

January 31 – February 9, 2014
Fridays and Saturdays at 10pm; Sundays at 5:30pm

Tickets: $18 Adults; $13 Students/Seniors; a limited number of $10 tickets are available, in advance, for every performance as part of La MaMa's 10 @ $10 ticketing initiative, on a first come, first served basis. Must be purchased in advance - not available day of show.

For Tickets and Info: Click Here

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

This Week @ The Club: The Return of M. Lamar!


M. Lamar's Surveillance Punishment and the Black Psyche returns to The Club @ La MaMa this week for 3 performances only! 

Out of the constant violent and sexualized surveillance of the black male body, plantation overseer, the NBA, stop and frisk, prisons etc emerge M. Lamar’s new music theater piece for countertenor and piano Surveillance Punishment and the Black Psyche

Utilizing multiple live and prerecorded camera feeds, this plantation fantasy explores surveillance from the point of view of a black man condemned to death for the murder of his male overseer with whom he has fallen in love. Surveillance plunges the deepest darkest depths of interracial desire and an our interracial culture from the watch tower to the to the psyche of the black man being watched. 

Listen to David Garland's interview 
with M. Lamar from WNYC: HERE 

La MaMa presents 
Surveillance Punishment 
and the Black Psyche 
by M. Lamar 

January 24 – January 26, 2014 

Friday - Saturday at 10pm; Sunday at 5:30pm 

Tickets: $18 Adults; $13 Students/Seniors; a limited number of $10 tickets are available, in advance, as part of La MaMa's 10 @ $10 ticketing initiative. Not available day of show. 

For Info and Tickets: Click Here

Monday, January 20, 2014

NY Times In Performance: PEGGY SHAW



NY Times In Performance: Peggy Shaw 
By Erik Piepenburg, Emma Cott, Amy Rio, Kriston Lewis and Robin Lindsay  
The Obie-winning performer and writer Peggy Shaw performs a scene from her solo piece “Ruff,” about her life before and after a stroke. The show is at La MaMa.

View the full clip: HERE

RUFF runs through Sunday, January 25th only.

For Tickets and Info: Click Here

Hilto Als Reflects on Adrienne Kennedy In Anticipation of Coffeehouse Chronicles



In anticipation of this Saturday's Coffeehouse Chronicles examining and celebrating Adrienne Kennedy, Hilton Als joins La MaMa in looking back at the career and life of the extraordinary Ms. Kennedy.
In 1976, La Mama hosted an operatic version of Kennedy’s outstanding 1966 play “A Rat’s Mass,” directed and composed by Cecil Taylor. Now, on Jan. 25, La Mama will present a panel that addresses Kennedy’s life and work.
Read the entire article: HERE

La MaMa presents
CoffeeHouse Chronicles #117:
Adrienne Kennedy

Saturday, January 25th - 3pm 

The Club @ La MaMa

74 East 4th Street
New York, NY 10003

Admission is FREE.

For More Information: Click Here

6 Questions: Romana Soutus


Romana Soutus is creating/curating Drink with Death, coming to The Club @ La MaMa on February 14th. We asked Romana 6 Questions about the show and about herself: 

1. What was the initial inspiration for Drink with Death
My ideas have a tendency to marinate in my head for a really long time before they become what they “are”. I first started thinking about the idea that ultimately became “Drink with Death” while I was listening to the Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds “Murder Ballads” album while I was walking down the street. I was listening to “The Kindness of Strangers” and it starts off with this lovely piano intro, and I hadn’t heard this song previously, and the first lines Nick Cave purrs are “They found Mary Bellows cuffed to bed/With a rag in her mouth and a bullet in her head”, and I literally stopped in the middle of the street and was so struck by the line. I kept walking and thought, “how many other really beautiful songs were slipping in these incredibly dark lyrics and I didn’t realize?”. So I kind of fell down the rabbit hole of murder ballads and I just couldn’t stop listening. They were beautiful, at times humorous, and always highly entertaining. I would listen to these songs on the subway and all the while I was thinking “does anyone know or can hear the crazy lyrics that are playing out of my headphones right now???”, and then it hit me, we don’t really talk about death at all really. It’s a thing we just kind of accept is a river of muck and mire that lives under everything but we never think bout or acknowledge it really as a constant in our lives. Slowly but surely murder ballads and musicians and bars full of dead people populated my dreams until the universe that is “Drink with Death” just kind of manifested itself.  

2. What is/was the most challenging element in making this show? 
The fact that we’re creating this piece in a total of a week. Half of the team is from Canada and the other half is based here in New York. I couldn’t image not working with the Canadian team. I’d met them last year when I was working on a production by one of La MaMa’s resident theatre companies’ Yara Arts Group’s production of “Midwinter Night”. They were all part of the Canadian “balkan-klezmer-gypsy-party-punk-super band” The Lemon Bucket Orkestra and I was blown away by each and every one of the band members’ musical capacities and sheer artistry. I kept in contact with them over the past year and I kept on being blown away not only by them but the other musical and theatrical projects they had. When I finally decided to dive in and do this show I couldn’t think of more incredible musicians that could make this play come to life. That being said, there is the whole coming down + time constraint thing, so I said “LETS DO IT!”, and they’re coming down and we’re making a show in a week. Its completely insane but I can only expect that it’ll provide a fire under our asses to really make this go with a bang. I can’t wait to see what the awesome musicians from New York can create together with the team from Canada. 

3. How is music important to the show? 
We’re talking about something difficult and thorny, Death. The reason why we're doing the show is also difficult and thorny, because no one really wants to talk about it. I think that what is so incredibly powerful about music is that its hits us on this incredibly visceral level that cannot be explained. We listen to a fantastic song and *pow* we get punch in the stomach and can’t stop moving our feet or shaking with enjoyment. What better way to talk about something so incredibly difficult like death and find the beauty, humor, joy and tragedy than through the visceral experience of music? Not to mention LIVE music! I mean, whose heart doesn’t palpitate with uncontrollable emotion when we watch someone strike a chord that just speaks to us? 

4. When did you know that you would that you wanted a career in the arts? 
I had two moments when I realized I wanted a career in the arts. 

The first was in second grade when I was cast as the Frog in my school’s production of “The Toad & The Frog”. I had a wicked huge crush on the narrator and was completely positive that being cast as the titular frog would automatically cause his little 2nd grade heart to jump out of his chest (I had my priorities straight at a very young age, obviously). But once I got on stage I kind of forgot about the boy and fell in love with being there. I had my first ever “theatrical blackout” where I got off stage and didn’t remember a single thing that happened on stage besides the incredible rush and joy of being there. 

The second was after I got rejected from every theatre school I applied to my senior year of high school. I was totally heartbroken. I decided to go to Fordham University, where I had applied as a non-theatre major. While we were touring the school on my first day my mom points to the Theatre department’s call board where auditions for the student studio season were being posted. I signed up for everything because non-majors could audition for student directed shows. I got cast and throughout the whole rehearsal process I kept thinking “this is the perfect theatre department for me. Why didn’t I apply here?!” After the show’s premiere I had a conversation with the head of the Theatre department, Matthew Maguire, auditioned for the program, and was in it the next semester. I’ve never looked back since. 

5. Name someone or something that inspires you. 
I’m inspired by countless things, but the one thing that has been a constant inspiration in my life has got to be my mom. I got incredibly lucky in that I grew up with a loud, confident and vivacious woman. I’m an only child, but instead of doing the whole “you stay home with the babysitter” thing my parents took me to all of their parties. My mom was by far the most interesting woman in the world to watch at a party. She would be in the corner telling a story that got the whole room hooked on her every word then she’d turn around and have this incredibly intimate moment with someone. Not to mention the fact that all the while she was balancing a 24/7 kind of job and she still managed to never miss a show. I’m still kind of amazed at how much of a badass she is. So every time I throw a script across the room and go “I just don’t get it!”; I think about my mom, I breathe, and then when I get back to the page something seemed to have re-charged in me and I get it. 

6. What does working at La MaMa mean to you? 
To say that working at La MaMa is a dream come true for me is more than an understatement. I was really shy and a bit of a loner growing up, so reading was a big source of comfort for me. Through my reading of theatre history and the avant-garde movement of the 60s and 70s I stumbled upon Ellen Stewart and La MaMa and I fell in love. It was everything I wanted to be doing in theatre. It was the epitome of the experimental art form for me. Then I started to do work with La MaMa about a year, year and a half ago and I went “oh my god, everyone here is so incredibly wonderful”. You think about institutions that produce the work of geniuses like Sam Shepard or Andrei Serban and you automatically assume that there is an elitism that is completely nonexistent at La MaMa. Ellen Stewart really was everyone’s mama and the familial atmosphere that she fostered lives on through the incredible leadership of Mia Yoo. There hasn’t been a time that I’ve walked into the offices and not gotten a big hug or a big plate of food. I consider myself honored to be part of the family.

La MaMa presents
Drink with Death
By Romana Soutus

February 14 – February 16, 2014

A Cabaret Extravaganza curated by Romana Soutus The evening features murder ballads as performed by international musicians, a clown show, and countless unexpected twists and turns. Seize the opportunity to break down the walls we put up between ourselves and our mortality and instead find the humor, tragedy, pain and beauty that comes with society’s greatest fear.

Tickets: $18 Adults; $13 Students/Seniors; a limited number of $10 tickets are available to everyone, IN ADVANCE for every performance as part of La MaMa's 10 @ $10 ticketing initiative. Not available day of show.

For Tickets and Info: Click Here

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Video Preview: Rumore di acque (Noise in the Waters)


Set on a volcanic islet in the strip of sea between Europe and Africa that has been the scene of a devastating tragedy for the past fifteen years, this intense, grotesque and nightmarish poem on the tragedy of migrants will grab you and won’t let you go till the end. Performed in English.


La MaMa presents 
Rumore di acque 
(Noise in the Waters) 
By Teatro delle Albe 

January 30 – February 16, 2014 

Written and Directed by Marco Martinelli 
Devised by Marco Martinelli, Ermanna Montanari 
English translation by Thomas Simpson 
Performed by Alessandro Renda 
Original live music by Fratelli Mancuso 

Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays @ 7:30pm 
Sundays @ 2:30pm 

Tickets: $18 Adults; $13 Students/Seniors; a limited number of $10 tickets are available, in advance, as part of La MaMa's 10 @ $10 ticketing initiative. Not available day of show. 

For Tickets and Info: Click Here

Saturday, January 18, 2014

CoffeeHouse Chronicles #117: Adrienne Kennedy


The next edition of CoffeeHouse Chronicles celebrating Adrienne Kennedy, will be held on Saturday, January 25, 2014 at 3pm in The Club at La MaMa. Erik Ehn will moderate a panel that includes Alisa Solomon, Evan Yionoulis, Robert Heide, Charlotte Brathwaite and Rebecca Clark.

Performances: 

Scenes from SHE TALKS TO BEETHOVEN directed by Charlotte Brathwaite

Excerpts from THE OWL ANSWERS & FUNNYHOUSE OF A NEGRO directed by Rebecca Clark

Screenings: THE VOYAGE

Documenary footage of The Kennedy family journeying to West Africa fall 1960 on The Queen Mary. It was during this trip that FUNNYHOUSE OF A NEGRO was written.

Excerpts from films which influenced Adrienne Kennedy’s work & archival performance footage to be named later will also be included.

Coffeehouse Chronicles Series Director: Michal Gamily

Friday, January 17, 2014

Video Preview: The Wong Kids...


THE WONG KIDS Teaser from Ma-Yi Theater Company on Vimeo.

La MaMa presents
The Ma-Yi Theater Company production of
The Wong Kids 
In The Secret Of 
The Space Chupacabra 
Go!
by Lloyd Suh
directed by Ralph B. Peña

Co-created bythe Children’s Theatre Company
and in partnership with The Ensemble Studio Theatre

A work equally rewarding for all ages...one of the funniest, most enjoyable productions I’ve experienced on a Twin Cities stage this year...a terrific sci-fi satire. Go!”
- Rob Hubbard, TwinCities.com/Pioneer Press


"These “Wong Kids” have got the right stuff."
- Star Tribune

Violet and Bruce Wong just don’t fit in with the other Earth kids. Sure, they have super powers, they’re just not very good ones. But when an evil beast called the Space Chupacabra appears, intent on universal destruction, The Wong Kids must travel to outer space in order to stop it… if they can only stop bickering. Using a mix of action-driven storytelling, puppetry, and visual magic, THE WONG KIDS transports its audience into the far reaches of the galaxy!


January 28 – February 16, 2014

Tuesdays - Wednesdays @ 11am
Thursdays – Fridays – Saturdays @ 7pm
Saturdays – Sundays @ 1:30pm

Adults: $30 (Previews $25)
Students/Seniors: $20
Children Under 10: $10
A limited number of $10 tickets are available to everyone, IN ADVANCE for every performance as part of La MaMa's 10 @ $10 ticketing initiative. Not available day of show.

For Tickets and Info: Click Here

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Artist Interview: Shane Shane

LIQUID NONSENSE: AMIABLE NITRATE

January 17-19, 2014 | The Club at La MaMa 


Photo by Jeremy Sailing

Sam Alper interviews Shane Shane about queer performance, driving a giant teapot and using poppers as a metaphor.

You’ve had this transition from informal, or social, performance spaces to more formal theatrical venues, like La MaMa. What has that been like?

The background that I normally come from is do-it-yourself live music: basement shows and DIY touring and stuff. So this was new territory for me to have it formalized, people sitting down, and to have a theatre space for it. So with that I’ve developed a more reigned in script - and just scripting it in the first place is new to me, because usually I’ve written the songs, but I just talk off the top of my head between them. So this is the 2nd run of it. The first one I did, for the Queer New York International Festival, I sort of slapped together quickly, I had about four weeks to get it ready. For this performance I’ve had a little bit more time, not a whole lot, but a little bit more, so the speaking part is more structured. I’ve also called in Heather Litteer and Nicole Gruter, who are two amazing performers, as a supporting cast - so it’s not just me this time around.

Does planning what you’re going to say change the nature of what you’re doing?

I think it does. It’s been an interesting challenge trying to formalize what I want to say and the tone that I want. Interestingly, the first time around, I was adopting a kind of an honest, or earnest, persona on stage, where I was basically speaking as myself, and this time around it’s a lot more tongue in cheek and a lot more stylized. It’s been interesting finding what persona works best to tell the story I’m trying to tell.

Do you have consistent collaborators over time? When you rehearse is there someone there to watch and give feedback? What’s that side of it like for you?

Really, I’m just bouncing ideas off of my boyfriend and myself.

But - so you do have someone else to bounce things off.

Absolutely. And Dan Fishback, who was the person who got me in touch with La MaMa in the first place, has been super helpful - hashing out logistical things and things about the way these shows work that I didn’t know, and also he’s been really helpful with artistic decisions and choices about what to include or get rid of.

I was wondering about - since I didn’t get to see the last run -

You son of a bitch.

I know, frankly, you shouldn’t even be doing this interview right now. But how would you describe Liquid Nonsense to a newbie, like me?

The whole structure of it is kind of like a demented variety show. It loosely takes place over the course of a day, from sunrise to sundown, but it’s pretty non-linear. The themes that we’re touching on are the anxieties of what my role is as a queer performer in New York in 2014 and the performance art community in general. But that sort of makes it sound drier than it is. It’s mostly just a series of jokes and sketches and videos that I’ve created. So there’s a lot of stuff about what it means to be a gay man, and particularly what it means to be a weird gay man and a fat gay man. And there are underlying themes, like body positivity and queer inclusion and identity politics and all those other things that we’re sort of preoccupied with in our community.

Recently, with the launch of the Helix Queer Performance Network and the Queer New York International Festival, there’s been a lot of attention on, and forums for, queer performance, or however we’re categorizing it. Do you ever feel a push back against being categorized that way?

For right now, I don’t feel any push-back or any boxing in. Part of the reason that I came to New York in the first place was because I was explicitly wanting to be around people who were making queer art for queer people in a queer community. I spent most of my twenties being a queer musician working in a DIY punk community, which was awesome, and there’s a lot to be said for not boxing yourself in and really working with the world as a queer person. You learn a lot about yourself and the way the world works that way. At this point in my life, I wanted to get to a point where I wasn’t the only person, doing what I was doing in a room. And being in Wisconsin was part of it, but also working within the context of DIY music, more often than not I would be the queerest performer on a bill. And at least for the time being I’m really interested in and excited about being around queer people who are specifically speaking to each other and engaging in that conversation. That said, it’s an insular community, and wherever something is insular there are always problems to go along with it. So, you know, ask me in two years how I feel about it… But right now It’s stimulating and… nutritious for me to mesh into a chiefly queer artistic world. 

To me it seems like one of the least insular times for queer work - with Helix and the Queer Festival and so many people taking on the label of ‘queer performer’ and then really presenting themselves to everyone and trying to share what they do. 

I think it’s insular insofar as there’s a shared vocabulary that you get - if you go to Hot Fruit there are certain in-jokes and ideas that you don’t really have to explain. That’s all I mean by insular. What I don’t mean - I think the work I’m seeing is constantly diverse and challenging and interesting. And I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that we’re moving towards a place right now where ‘queer performer’ isn’t so much about being gay or what your sex life is like anymore. I think it’s a lot more about how you see yourself in relationship to society at large, and what your gender representation is, and what your style of experimentation is. And considering that that’s such a huge topic, there’s still a lot of really interesting work that can come out of it. We’re luckily beyond the point where it’s just a question of getting onstage and being like, ‘I’m gay.’ It’s more about seeing yourself in a larger context and opening yourself up to a more experimental view of identity in general.

In general, I think opening up your sense of identity is step one to becoming a really good performer.

Hey hey.

Hey hey. Where does the title of your show, Liquid Nonsense: Amiable Nitrate,  come from? 

Liquid Incense is the euphemism that they wrote on poppers, because you can’t legally sell inhalants in a store. If you sell it as liquid incense you’re just supposed to open the bottle and it makes the room smell terrible because poppers smell terrible. So that’s where liquid nonsense came from. It’s also a silly but pertinent metaphor for what I’m talking about, what I want a queer identity to be which is sort of - poppers are a handy metaphor for it. You have to look to find them, you won’t just find them at WalMart, you have to go to a sex store, you have to off the beaten path and they’re certainly not for everyone. I like the metaphor of poppers that if you expose them to sunlight they sort of lose their power. There’s power in keeping things hidden and secret, keeping things word of mouth. Which is ironic considering how much I’ve been trying to promote this show. So that’s where the poppers metaphor came from. As far as Amiable Nitrate goes, I think I’m unshakably midwestern. If you come to one of my shows you’re not going to have someone screaming at you or confronting you. I’m sort of compulsively friendly. 

So the show is like this off the beaten path intoxicant that’s actually very nice-

Yeah. It’s a pretty friendly environment.

What’s up for you next, after the show?

I’m going to be putting out my first proper album as Shane Shane in the next few months. I’m recording that with Lucas Carey, who is appearing as a special guest on Friday night. This also opened up a door in my mind to doing more writing, so I think 2014 is a time to get more narrative things committed to film and on paper.

I’ve been prompting a lot. Anything else you want to get out there?

I’m very excited for people in New York to see my friend Nicole, who’s coming up from New Orleans to do this. She’s a really phenomenal performance artist and we have a long history of performing together. In 2009 we toured the country in my van, which she had retrofitted to look like a giant tea pot. We toured for two months, having tea parties at tourist venues like the Grand Canyon and Mount Rushmore and the Space Needle. We would set up tea parties and have people sit with us just to get people to slow down and spend time with each other rather than buy things. So that was fun… I’ve been really happy with how helpful I’ve found people to be. The show is technically written by me, but there’s just so much help that I’ve gotten from everyone. La MaMa specifically has been really a dream to work with. A really nice blend of freedom and resources. 

I love the way Nicky Paraiso, the Director of The Club at La MaMa, creates relationships with younger people and how he keeps bridging the divide and meeting people, because that’s one of the hardest things to do in an institution.

Nicky is one of those guys who, when I first met him, I was sort of waiting for the other shoe to drop. Because he’s so easy to work with and so nice that I kept waiting for when the demands or difficulty or blowback would be. It’s rare to work with someone who’s that laid-back and supportive and interested in finding new work. 

Ooh! Inspirations? Any cultural things you’re consuming that are helpful for the show?

There’s a lot of parody, a lot of commercial parodies, so watching TV has a lot to do with it. There’s a whole segment that’s like a morning news show. Other than that, a lot of the show is a digestion of trends and things that I’ve seen among queer performers in New York over the past two years. So if you’re looking for inspirations, it’s really the awesome performers in the community I’ve been a part of.

What’s the most recent thing you’ve seen that you were inspired by?

The first thing that comes to mind is My Endless Love, the Miguel Gutierrez piece. He just closed it at the American Realness Festival but I saw it at Abrons previously. My favorite is when things are sort of funny and sad. My Endless Love was sort of a perfect example of that. It’s a meditation on desire and ego and promiscuity, and the joys and pitfalls of trying to find love through anonymous sex - or not even anonymous - but through promiscuity. Another piece that I saw that was one of the best things I’ve seen in a long, long time was Drella at The Invisible Dog Arts Center. Coincidentally, it was done by my neighbor, Raja Feather Kelly. It’s a dance piece inspired by Andy Warhol. It’s kind of indescribable. One of the best things I’ve seen in a really long time.

To close it out - in the spirt of largesse and community - if you had to recommend an upcoming show to people that’s not your show, what would you recommend?

Let me look at my calendar, see what I’m going to go to… I’m really excited about the The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black on February 13th - Kembra Pfahler is, like, a legend and I’ve loved her since i was a teenager.