GAYLETTER

Penny Arcade has been performing for 50 years. That alone is something to applaud. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not into celebrating longevity alone, but Penny has been producing powerful and relevant work for every one of those 50 years. Bitch! Dyke! Faghag! Whore! Is undoubtedly her most important work. The show came out in 1990 at the height of the censorship culture wars, lead by fuck-face conservative politician Jesse Helmes. Penny has performed the show in over 30 cities, in dozens of countries. This Friday she is performing the show at the newly renovated Performance Space New York on 9th St. It’s a super cool, massive space that has been under renovation for about a decade (maybe not that long, but it’s felt like it.) “At Performance Space New York, Arcade will be joined by a star-studded cast of erotic dancers including Blaine Petrovia, 2017 USA National Pole Dancing Champion; Kevin Aviance; and Jantina, aka the Burlesque Booty Queen; among others.” The show has always featured erotic performers, Penny tells us why they’re so important: “Erotic dance is a powerful feminist art form, it is the only thing created by women that controls men, unlike the myriad of things men have created to control women.” I mean, how can you not love this woman? See you Friday Mama! You can attend other performances on May 11, 12, 17, 18, 19.  —tom

One of my favorite things, as a young and impressionable queer person, is finding out about artists for the first time and really opening myself up to their work. About a month ago, we published an interview with Jacolby Satterwhite — an artist who thrives on the cusp between performance and visual arts — by writer Omar Nasir. That interview was my introduction to Satterwhite; it was about his multilayered series Blessed Avenue, which is part installation, part visual album, and part performative statement on consumerism. This Friday, May 4th, Satterwhite is performing the first concert version of Blessed Avenue. The audience will be “introduced to a phantasmagorical world of bodies and machines, exploring such themes as desire and sexual freedom, while drawing inspiration from such diverse sources as gospel, acid house, and modern dance. The work in progress incorporates acapella songs originally composed by Satterwhite’s mother, Patricia, as she struggled with mental illness. They are reimagined into an electronic and visually stirring odyssey. In collaboration with the electronic composer and musician Nick Weiss, this performance features live vocals and new choral arrangements around Satterwhite’s latest musical and animated film.” Satterwhite’s concert is part of the Rubin Museum of Art’s performance series Refiguring the Future, which over the course of this month and next will also feature work from Morehshin Allahyari and Shirin Fahimi, as well as Juliana Huxtable.  —Connor Atkins

When I met Abigail Lewis she pulled out a few inches of very thin glass. “So, I’m making clothes out of this idea,” she said. She told me it was borosilicate, most commonly used in the medical profession, but that there was underwear, shoes, a bra and some other pieces at her studio in Harlem. Fast forward 3 months later, and Abigail — designing under A/DAPHNE — will finally unveil her hand-woven glass structures. “_IN is a collaborative performance installation in a bedroom. Lit by cell phones and computer screens, five artists will interpret glass garments by A/Daphne while reacting to the bedroom as a site of self-imagining and public solitude. Aarron Ricks, Alexandra Marzella, Craig Monteith, Nash Glynn, and Whitney Vangrin confront related themes of vulnerability, the body, gender, sexuality, social entrapment, and transparency. As a mode of self-presentation and a social construct, clothing is dependant upon its wearer, and from this stance A/Daphne facilitates the perspective of artist-as-wearer.” The cast — who all have backgrounds in various performance styles — will wear A/Daphne designs and channel their own styles of performance into the clothing medium. On view at the decadent space currently under the control of curator Emma James, viewers are invited into the space at their own discretion. Having seen the pieces and met the cast, I know the evening will be sexy, as well as totally serene. When I asked the cast what they were planning, they laughed. “To rehearse would be to lose all authenticity,” said Aarron. _IN will extend A/Daphne’s interest in the material paradoxes of glass, how it is both fragile and strong, protective and threatening.  —Chris Stewart

On Tuesday the latest issue of The New Yorker arrived in my mailbox. Naturally, I screamed. Joan Acocella, for those who do not know, is a staff writer for the magazine covering mostly dance, and sometimes other shit, but her dance writing is where it’s at. I breezed through her most recent article on Terrence McNally’s “Fire and Air.” The play follows the mythic relationship between the Ballets Russes’ Sergei Diaghilev and the camptastic Vaslav Nijinsky. “The play has only one set,” Acocella explained. “Two gilt-edged mirrors, a scattering of gilt chairs — and only six characters.” It turns out, GAYLETTER knows one of the actors. James Cusati-Moyer is “much handsomer than the real Nijinsky,” according to Acocella. I can attest to that. James is gorgina. Directed by John Doyle (at Classic Stage Company), Fire and Air explores the “rich history” of iconic-lovers Diaghilev and Nijinsky during their time spent working inside of the iternant dance company. I haven’t seen the show, but I desperately want to. The stage-direction mostly calls for scenes backstage with the characters in the company, so the script details Nijinsky’s past lover, Prince Lvov (there’s a whole other juicy gay-romance there), and his hairy ass. Lord knows I love a furry hole — I guess Nijinsky did too!  —Chris Stewart

Abi and I spent the entire ride from 77th St. to Spring St. talking about Ryan McNamara’s “Battleground.” The performance lasted a little over an hour and when we stepped out of the theatre, I lit a cigarette, Abi sparked a joint, and we got to gushing over the performance. Trained as a photographer and sculptor, McNamara started receiving buzz after his “Make Ryan a Dancer” premiered at MoMA PS1. Since then, his work has been seen globally and is celebrated as well as slandered by art-fags and the beau monde alike. I sound camp because I feel strongly that a huge part of McNamara’s work lies in the total buffoonery of gay men and LGBT society. “Battleground” was commissioned by The Guggenheim in 2016 and is a “battle ballet” showcased through a series of vignettes. Returning for three nights, McNamara uses the brusque architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright to highlight the good, the bad, the ugly, and every odd nook and cranny in between. It is equal parts performance and dance. With a cast of nine, the troupes of three cruise through every part of the theatre; behind you, beside you, above you, with a soundtrack that is no doubt an ode to gay-clubs. Sylvester, Sade and Suzi Lane propel the dancers through the choreography that mixes Vogue-poses and stealthy, svelte interpretations of modern and ballet. There is a talk-back style interlude where McNamara discusses his love of threes and refuses the word “repertoire” that is so often used as a placard for artists working through dance. Call him what you want, but the work is a cult-like delicacy really most enjoyed by anyone who’s willing to forget everything they know about dance performance. The current works are already legend, and in 10 years they’ll be even more cunt. It’s selling out fast. I wouldn’t want to see this on tour.  —Chris Stewart

Harvey Fierstein’s trailblazing play about the complexities of gay identity during the late 70s/early 80s has blazed back onto the New York theater scene, and it’s burning for just a little while longer. Torch Song centers on Arnold Beckoff (Michael Urie), a femme queen also known to her audiences at the Industrial Stud as Virginia Hamm (think Magnolia Crawford meets Trixie Mattel): she’s cynical, disillusioned, and funny as fuck. The play follows Arnold as he navigates love and loss in gay New York City and beyond. It’s bitingly hilarious (watching Arnold get fucked in a backroom while having an entire conversation with the audience is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen) and totally heartbreaking, especially when Arnold and his mother duke it out during her visit from Florida (my mom and I were weeping and laughing during their entire exchange). You only have a few days left to see this show, so you better sprint there before it closes. It’s playing at 2econd Stage Theater through December 9th. Tickets range in price.  —Gayletter

It’s been a hot minute since Jake Shears (of the Scissor Sisters) has been out and about playing music. At least that I’m aware of. I apologize if he’s been performing all over the shop and I’ve just missed it. Anyways, back to the point of this post. Jake is performing this Sunday at 7pm at Elsewhere, which is a “new music venue & arts space in Bushwick, Brooklyn, built by the team behind the former Glasslands Gallery.” There is scant information about this event, but if you’ve ever seen the Scissor Sisters live, then you’ll know that Jake puts on a fabulous show. When I was a baby gay I saw them perform in Melbourne, Australia. I was so jet lagged after flying back from Vietnam the day before. I had a terrible cold which I made worse on the flight back by drinking a lot of whiskey (I thought it would be antiseptic for my sore throat). Needless to say when I got to the show I didn’t feel like dancing, then Jake got on the mic with Ms. Ana Matronic and the rest of the band, and my symptoms and complaints disappeared. I had so much fun, and I’m sure you will too this Sunday at Elsewhere. Also, listen to his latest song Creep City.  —tom

The Performa 17 Biennial is upon us once again; this year’s event is taking place November 1-19 in various pockets throughout New York City. Best known for her series of black and white photographs Faces and Phases, commissioned artist Zanele Muholi (pictured) explores the intersection of intrapersonal and interpersonal politics for LGBTI people across the globe. As an extension of this ongoing project, Muholi has created a body of work to display in public in conjunction with her #VisualActivism campaign reaching across social media platforms. She aims to unite various groups of queer people of color throughout the city with her work, and it all starts with the opening reception of Muholi’s contribution for Performa 17 set to take place at Yancey Richardson Gallery. Her solo exhibition will display two series, Brave Beauties and Somnyama Ngonyama (“Hail the Dark Lioness”) from November 2-9. According to the gallery, Muholi “uses portraiture as a form of exposure to disrupt the dominant images of black women in the media today and to bear witness to both the brutality and the joy of black, queer, lesbian, and transgendered individuals in South Africa.” Muholi’s focus on long-term activism and community building are central pillars of queer history, and this work is more important now than ever before.  —Gayletter