Seeking performers for March 7th Red Umbrella Diaries event in NYC
Pretty Woman REdux: REmixing, REviving and REclaiming mainstream media images of sex work:
Join us to perform as part of the March 7th Red Umbrella Diaries line-up! Get in touch to introduce yourself and let us know you’re interested in performing!
re·dux
/rēˈdəks/
Adjective
Brought back; resurgant
Tired of Pretty Woman - skinny, white, CIS - Julia Roberts hereby named by pop culture as the only image of a sex worker? Want to have words with Nicki over her song Stupid Ho? Or do you imagine queering T-Pain’s love song to a stripper? Are you POC, poor, trans, queer and/or an identity that pop culture tries to silence? Do you fantasize about making media that represents YOU?
Welcome to the world of Pretty Woman Redux! For the March edition of Red Umbrella Diaries we’re messing with music, film, television and all forms of art to multi-channel stereotypes, flip the script and scramble stigma. Red Umbrella Diaries is a monthly story telling series that creates a space for people with experience in the sex industry to tell their stories. It takes at Happy Ending, a former massage parlor cum (pun intended) Lower Eastside bar, on the first Thursday of every month. Red Umbrella Diaries in March is an opportunity for those of us who are often shut out of the mainstream to recenter ourselves in existing images of sex workers and our work.
Do you have an idea for a piece that runs about 10min? Or are you sparked to create something on this theme, even though you don’t know what it is yet? Is there in a feeling in your gut that Pretty Woman Redux needs your voice?
Speak out! Get in touch with guest curator Anna Saini by Thursday January 24th, with your proposal. Email her at anna[at]redumbrellaproject[dot]org with a pitch for your performance piece or to tell me why you feel passionately about collaborating on this project.
It doesn’t have to be fully fleshed out or super formal. All it needs to do is convince her a) you will contribute something special and important b) you are willing to submit a draft and make revisions based on feedback, and c) you are available to attend the performance on March 7th as well as a brief tech rehearsal on an evening the week prior to the show and a brief run through two weeks prior to the show. The dates of rehearsal and run through are TBD but the whole thing will take less than an hour and we will take into account the schedules of each performer.
This gig is unpaid so we hope to work with folks who are interested in collectively making something extremely rad and awesome. In returnwe will nurture a) an encouraging and supportive space to create and refine your art that you will likely perform to packed or near-packed audience in a legit NYC venue b) a process that limits the burden on you to have to coordinate anything c) a final product that is an off-the-hook collab of bad asses. It’s also a great experience to add to an artist resume and I’m willing to provide a professional reference in the future if you would like.
Hope to hear from you. And please distribute widely to your cool peoples! Remember the submission deadlines is coming up fast so drop Anna an email anna[at]redumbrellaproject[dot]org by Thursday January 24th even if it’s just to let her know you’re interested!
