Alleged Lesbian Activities
Directed by Lyam Gabel and indee mitchell
Performances:
New Orleans Allways Lounge and Theater Sept 2016
New Orleans Allways Lounge and Theater Jan 2016
New Orleans Tigermen’s Den July 2017
Arden, NC Alternate ROOTs Annual Meeting (excerpt) August 2017
Boston, MA Jacque’s Cabaret Boston May 2019
National Performance Network Annual Meeting (excerpt) Dec 2019
ALLEGED LESBIAN ACTIVITIES is an immersive performance event staged in a smoky bar, a cabaret show run amok, a one night stand with a girl you might never see again. Merging the queer traditions of burlesque and drag kinging with contemporary dance and oral history interviews, ALLEGED LESBIAN ACTIVITIES looks closely at the vanishing legacy of lesbian spaces, and invites audiences into new ways of engaging with and complicating LGBTQ history.
Created by a team of 52 collaborators from over 30 oral-history interviews with patrons of New Orleans dyke bars. Developed in partnership with interviewees and community members over a series of workshop periods and open community events. Currently on tour, the team travels to communities 2-5 times for interviews, workshops, and conversations about the history and present of gathering spaces for queer women+ and creates a podcast and additional material for the performance. In this way we assure that the performance space is populated by a multi-racial multi-generational and trans* inclusive audience, conjuring the spaces that we lost and dreaming up the spaces we hope to create.
"Alleged Lesbian Activities not only examines the economic and social reasons why the bars closed, but expresses how their demise undermined a sense of community among queer people that crossed generations and lines of race, class, generations and gender identity."
-Mary Rickard, Gambit
“Alleged Lesbian Activities is one of the best things I've ever seen in New Orleans. From the chemistry between the wonderful and multi-talented ensemble members, the beautiful scene work, the GORGEOUS design to the beautiful interplay between live action and recorded memory, this piece creates a desperately needed space in New Orleans.”
-Evan Speigleman, Performer and Lighting Designer
Alleged Lesbian Activities is funded by the New England National Theater Project ‘18, MAP Fund ‘16, Co-commissioned by The Theater Offensive, Clear Creek Creative, Mondo Bizarro and the National Performance Network, Platforms Fund ‘16, Alternate Roots Artistic Assistance ‘16, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival ‘16, Developed at the New Orleans Contemporary Arts Center through a Distillery Artist Residency
Allways Lounge 2016
Alternate ROOTS 2017
Podcast
Last Call created a season of podcast episodes to share the oral histories directly with our community.