Audacia Ray's Blog, page 17
October 7, 2013
redupnyc:
This fall, Red Umbrella Project has a lot going on -...
This fall, Red Umbrella Project has a lot going on - we’re doing our biggest event ever, a night at Joe’s Pub in NYC (seating 200!) with seven storytellers plus the debut performance by our trans women’s theatre troupe. And because this is all such a big deal, we’re making a documentary. Since 2009, we’ve been producing a monthly storytelling series in NYC, where over 100 sex workers have told true stories about their lives.
About the documentary - we’re raising funds for it this month on Kickstarter, and you can check out the trailer and back it here. Really seriously, any amount helps - and there are great rewards, if you’re into that kind of thing.
Picture above are two of the ladies who will be in the doc:
Page, left, is the only performer you didn’t get to meet in our trailer. She’s a second generation stripper who grew up in San Diego and made her way to NYC to do theater. I met her about four years ago when she was performing in a play written by a sex worker friend of mine, called “The Hooker and The Girl,” a tale of lesbian sex worker romance. Page first performed at the Red Umbrella Diaries in July 2010 under the moniker Busty Kitten - you can hear a podcast of her story here.
Ceyenne, right, has become a familiar face at Red Umbrella Diaries events over the past three years. I met her as she was trying to get her life together after a stint in prison for a prostitution conviction. Ceyenne is an amazing cook, and while serving time, she started writing down her recipes - these recipes became her book Cooking in Heels: A MemoirCookbook, which Red Umbrella Project published last October after a successful Kickstarter campaign.
During the Kickstarter for Ceyenne’s book, a lot of folks said they would love to see more of her on camera, since she’s so charismatic - and you’ll get to see a lot more of her when we meet our goal for this campaign! Our camera crew is planning to hang out with her at home while she cooks, plus we’ll hang out with her as she coordinates a Saturday food pantry in Queens.
Please help us spread the word about this Kickstarter so we can bring these stories to screens large and small!
janetmock:
chescaleigh:
Laverne Cox Shares on Transgender...
Laverne Cox Shares on Transgender Issues and OITNB - Overshare (Lives with Meredith Vieira)
Yes, my sister continues to share her brilliance with the world.
She’s amazing.
marginalutilite:
Going to Holyoke city council meeting today in which the Department of Health will...
Going to Holyoke city council meeting today in which the Department of Health will be discussing street sex work—with no street sex workers in attendance, of course. Yuck.
Intense. Hope you have a plan to take care of yourself after. Its super important to show up in these spaces… but also sucks.
October 5, 2013
October 3, 2013
I’ve been doing sex worker activism for ten years now, and...
I’ve been doing sex worker activism for ten years now, and I have been approached by a lot of people who want to document me, the sex workers I collaborate with, and the projects we do. The answer has always been no. But this fall, we’re making a documentary about seven Red Umbrella Diaries performers with an Emmy Award winning film crew we trust. In fact, just this past month, I married the director (!!). So, its a special project for a lot of reasons.
The film, which we’re raising funds for via crowdfunding site Kickstarter, is a feature-length documentary film about seven LGBTQ sex worker storytellers as we prepare for the biggest performance of our lives, a night at Joe’s Pub in NYC. Performers include yours truly, Ceyenne Doroshow (author of Cooking in Heels: A Memoir Cookbook, successfully Kickstarted last year), Anna Saini, Dominick (advice writer for Rentboy.com), Essence Revealed, Page Campbell, and Sailor.
The show and the film are both a sign of the times - RedUP’s work is growing, and we’re getting heard by more people! There are tons of great backer rewards, too: a download of the completed film, subscriptions to our literary journal Prose & Lore, hanging out at rehearsals, and tickets to the show. Please help us fund the film - our goal is to raise $15,000 this month, and we have to raise it all or we get nothing!
October 2, 2013
redupnyc:
This fall, our Trans Women’s Theater Troupe...
This fall, our Trans Women’s Theater Troupe (facilitated by Ceyenne Doroshow -author of Cooking in Heels: A Memoir Cookbook- and Nicolette Dixon) is creating an original piece of theater that will debut on Thursday, November 14th at Joe’s Pub in NYC during Red Umbrella Project’s first gala event, alongside stories by seven other performers.
We are doing auditions on Friday, October 4 at the LGBT Center on 13th Street in Manhattan from 6-8:30 pm and on Saturday, October 5 at the Brooklyn Pride Center from 4-6 pm. Bring your own monologue to read or read one of the monologues we’ll have for you.
The troupe will rehearse twice a week, on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6-9 pm at the Miss Majors/Jay Toole Building for Social Justice on 24th street in Manhattan. Dinner will be served and metrocards will be available at all rehearsals. Rehearsals start October 8th.
Questions? Email info@redumbrellaproject.org or call 347-927-3867
"Today, I feel like the sex I choose to have in my life has to include more than just physical..."
- Sites of Violence: Why Our Notions of “Sex Positive” Feminism Are in Need of an Overhaul (via brujacore)
September 10, 2013
What It Was Like to Work at the Lusty Lady, a Unionized Strip Club
The San Francisco peep show closes September 2. A former stripper remembers the empowering atmosphere, even amidst a grueling schedule.Quite after the fact, I present unto you, Tumblrs, my brief remembrance of the Lusty Lady in San Francisco, published by The Atlantic online. I understand the comments on this piece are quite…robust. I would read them, but I’m saving my Poor Choice of the Day option for sticking my hand in a sack full of fire ants.
Lily’s article is awesome.
September 5, 2013
redupnyc:
Today, September 5 (till midnight PST)! Prose &...
Today, September 5 (till midnight PST)! Prose & Lore Issue 2 is FREE on Kindle.
If you don’t have a Kindle device, there are free Kindle apps for lots of different devices. Learn more about them here.
September 4, 2013
redupnyc:
Open submissions for Issue 3! Full details here.
We...
Open submissions for Issue 3! Full details here.
We are looking for stories about people’s experiences within the sex trades, told by the people who lived it. We welcome written stories and we are also interested in interviews. If you have a story to tell but don’t want to write it, we can record your story or do an interview. We welcome prose, poems, or interviews/oral histories. You can also interview someone else who wants their story to be told. We are flexible on how long the final story should be – we’ve published stories that are one page and stories that are 25 pages. If you have a story you’d like to tell - let us know by October 14! We’re not looking for finished pieces just yet - we’ll work with you on getting your story into publishing shape.
