Magnificent Irreverence: Ladylike Performance Festival 2
There’s nothing ladylike about Stanya Kahn as she performs Delirium–but then that’s the point of the “Ladylike Performance Festival,” to blow the concept to smithereens. In a stocking cap, dark glasses, and a string bikini made of extrawide rubber bands, Kahn lolls in a tiny galvanized tub of water talking to her rubber duckie, somehow suggesting both innocent play and fiendish derangement, her writhing, smeared blue lips recalling Lucille Ball’s red ones, her raspy voice echoing Carol Burnett’s insinuating cadences. Kahn–a former San Franciscan and member of Sister Spit now living in New York City–will perform a work in progress here, Rank Stranger, that promises to deliver the same manic verbal and physical violence as Delirium. Other performers in the second annual one-weekend festival–“Magnificent Irreverence,” curated by Asimina Chremos (“Miss de Mina”)–include Philadelphia-based Paule Turner and Paul Struck as Duchess and Miss Tickle, who channel the spirits of Lady Di and Diana Ross (Duchess also presents a short piece, Afternoon of a Fruit); Connecticut-based Pedro Alejandro in Melt/Strip (theatergoers may remember Alejandro from his butt-baring appearance in the Movable Beast Dance Festival last June); and Sheelah Murthy, who investigates the question “Why have a baby if Armageddon is coming?” in her new Multiple Introductions: Tales of Horror, Ecstasy, and Mundane States of Pregnancy. Link’s Hall, 3435 N. Sheffield, 773-281-0824. February 5 and 6: Friday-Saturday, 8 PM. $10. –Laura Molzahn
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): Stanya Kaohn photo by Elizabeth Gorelik.