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Performance Picks: More Pride Shows and a Comedic Art Opening

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THURSDAY

(image via Failure A Queer Workshop / Facebook)

Failure Pride: Idols
Thursday, June 20 at Club Cumming, 8 pm: $10

Queer culture is full of idols: pop icons like Madonna and Lady Gaga, classic stars of the stage like Barbra, drag queens of all sorts, activists like Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson, the list goes on. Plus, we needn’t forget American Idol, which must at least count for something here. Tonight, the recurring performance series Failure: A Queer Workshop, hosted by Ragamuffin, La Llorona, and Le Petit Dumdum, will present a conversation on idols in all their forms, featuring guest performers Cher Noble, Lu Reyes, Agave Lamour, and Jojo Soul.

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Performance Picks: Queer + Trans Stories, Violence in Nebraska

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WEDNESDAY

(image via Junior Mint / Facebook)

In Living Color!
Weekly on Wednesdays at UpNorth, 9 pm: FREE

There are so many drag shows in the city, they can be hard to keep track of. When a show happens every week, it can create a comfortable consistency; you always know it’s going to be there. The newest weekly sensation to hit Bushwick is In Living Color, a free evening of drag and burlesque hosted by effervescent drag performer Junior Mint, who may be new on the scene but has so much talent and vibrant presence that you’d never know it. Every Wednesday, she hosts a crop of multitalented local performers for your entertainment, while you sip drinks and dine on vegetarian food from the bar. This week features Rara Darling, Thee Suburbia, and Tink, with gogo dancing and kittening by Foxy Belle Afriq. More →

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A Very Burlesque Valentine’s, and More Performance Picks

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THURSDAY

(image via Jen Gapay / Facebook)

Filthy Gorgeous Burlesque Valentine’s Spectacular
Thursday, February 14 at Brooklyn Bowl, 7:30 pm: $25 

There are a staggering number of events of all stripes happening on Valentine’s Day, as show and party producers rush to appeal to the lovers, the lonely, and everyone in between. Some happenings are best enjoyed in a coupled sense, but others are fun for anyone. I wouldn’t say something called the Filthy Gorgeous Burlesque Valentine’s Spectacular is necessarily fun for the whole family, due to the large quantities of well, titties, but it’s an evening that can certainly be a good time for anyone regardless of relationship status. “Singing siren” Shelly Watson will welcome a stacked lineup that includes Jo “Boobs” Weldon, Darling Just Darlinda, and this year’s Miss Coney Island Pearls Daily, plus live rockabilly music. More →

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Performance Picks: Trashy Comedy, Asian Drag, 4/20 Monotony

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WEDNESDAY

(flyer via Wonders Of Nature / Facebook)

What’s Your Damage?
Wednesday, April 18 at Wonders Of Nature, 8 pm: $5

A show called What’s Your Damage taking place at a space called Wonders Of Nature sort of feels like it could be a metaphor or political statement talking about the ways we have irreparably damaged the natural world, because at this point it would be hard to deny we haven’t. However, that’s not what this show is about. Quite simply, hosts Sachi Ezura and Halle Kiefer will ask performers what exactly their damage is, which is just a snappier way of asking them to reveal past embarrassments and drama that have shaped them into “the weird, wonderful people they are today.” This time around, Carmen Christopher, Aaron Jackson, Marcia Belsky, and Joyelle Nicole are the ones to tell all. More →

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A Tribute To Brooklyn, Queer Storytelling, and More Performance Picks

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THURSDAY

(photo: Aaron “RadioSilence” Jaker)

¡Oye! For My Dear Brooklyn
March 15-31 at Abrons Arts Center, various times: $20

It’s far too common to see comedians, storytellers, and other performance-based creative types make quips about living in Brooklyn, but usually these are predominantly white transplants talking about how quirky it is to live there, with all the cute cafes and niche boutiques and all that. I typically find this very grating, because living in a place is not a personality trait, particularly when you are a white person being all “Haha, how funny is Brooklyn” about what is almost always a gentrifying neighborhood. But if you’re looking for a different kind of love letter to the borough, look no further than Modesto Flako Jimenez and the Oye Group’s latest multimedia production, ¡Oye! For My Dear Brooklyn. Using projections, bilingual storytelling, poetry, music, and more, Jimenez waxes quite literally poetic about his unique life, the multifaceted place he calls home, and all the complicated forces currently at work within it. More →

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Performance Picks: Demystifying Sex, Activist Storytelling, Adolescent Witchcraft

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WEDNESDAY

(image via HERE Arts Center)

The Sex Myth: A Devised Play
August 16-20 at HERE Arts Center, 8:30 pm (Sunday at 4 pm): $35

I don’t think it’s hyperbole to state that most of America had either an awful sex ed or none at all. Sure, you can take to the internet in all its glory to learn a thing or two, but formal sex education programs are notoriously lacking. This has created a hush-hush attitude around carnal matters, which leads to shame, misinformation, sensationalism, and a whole host of other not-so-great stuff. A new devised show, The Sex Myth, uses real stories and experiences to expand conceptions of what is “normal” in bedrooms and bodies alike.

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Times Square Elmo En Español, Comedy For Charity, and More Performance This Week

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THURSDAY

(image via The Bushwick Starr)

(image via The Bushwick Starr)

Furry! / La Furia!
Continues through November 26 at The Bushwick Starr, 8 pm (November 20 show at 3 pm): $15.

Imagining the everyday life of someone who dresses up as Elmo and roams around Times Square for tips is entertaining enough, but now you have a chance to see it on stage, in two different languages. Playwright William Burke has teamed up with Modesto Flako Jimenez and the Brooklyn Gypsies Collective for a “Spanish/Spanglish/human” translation of his play FURRY to be performed by Jimenez and Olander “Big O” Wilson. Also, this play isn’t even about the regular life of an Elmo in Times Square, however odd and intriguing that may be. It’s about “a street Elmo who rises to power by taking over the streets of 42nd to 46th Street by using The Art of War.” I don’t think I could imagine the details of such a thing if I tried, so you’re better off checking it out for yourself. More →

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Edgar Oliver Recounts Love and Loss, Beggars and Bakeries in Attorney Street

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(photo: Maria Baranova)

(photo: Maria Baranova)

Edgar Oliver is a memorable man. I feel as though I could listen to him recite a portion of the phone book and throughout it I would find humor, joy, and sorrow. That’s not to say he has a terribly wide range of vocal inflection, but rather quite the opposite. Somehow he treats every word nearly the same way, with the same great deal of care and dramatics, and yet an entire world opens itself up among the syllables.

In Attorney Street, Oliver’s third solo storytelling show, he explores a new chapter of his life in a new apartment on the Lower East Side after being made to leave the small East Village SRO he’d remained for decades. With this major change, he also tracks other shifts in his life and surroundings: a vacant lot he cherished is now no more, a young boy that awakened desire in him as a child now has a child of his own, and so on.

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Back-to-School Tales, Sexperiences, and More Performance Picks

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(image via Harvest Moon / Facebook)

(image via Harvest Moon / Facebook)

THURSDAY

Harvest Moon: A Freak-Folk Cabaret
Thursday, September 22 at The Wild Project, 8 pm: $10-20 sliding scale. 

Come ring in the soon-arriving autumn with this mystical evening of live art, from music and dance to film and fairytales and everything in between. A gaggle of artists based in Bushwick and beyond (some are regulars at Bizarre Bar staple Circus of Dreams, others frequent the nearby Tarot Society or Living Gallery) will assemble to bring you their artistic bounty. And it’ll be a bounty, all right– there are over 15 acts on the bill, including Jason Trachtenburg, Tarot Society’s Darcey Leonard, Omer Gal‘s music ensemble Cookie Tongue, and a Texas-themed Butoh troupe. If you’re pressed for time, you can just pop in for the second act at 9:30pm (there are two entry times) but all tickets earn you access to the whole shindig. The weather may get to the high eighties today, but fall is a-comin’. Eventually.

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Bowie, Bayside, and Taylor Negron: 4 Anniversary Shows Not to Miss

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OYPTbowieelvis2015_feat
Some of our favorite institutions, parties, and performances are celebrating big milestones in the next days. Why not join in the festivities?
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