The Wild West meets the East Village in the upcoming world premiere of Virgo Star.
“Queering the cinematic tropes of classic western films,” according to an official release, Virgo Star “explores and explodes the myth of the American Cowboy, examining same-sex intimacy, self-awareness and the fear of being marginalized in a fictional West. Devised and performed by a collective of LGBTQ and feminist artists, this thought-provoking performance fuses personal storytelling, movement and video projections. You’ve never seen the West this wild!”
Presented by award-winning multigenerational ensemble Pioneers Go East Collective at New York City’s La MaMa Experimental Theatre, the “intimate interactive performance” is written and devised by queer artists Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte and Daniel Diaz in collaboration with Philip Treviño, Anabella Lenzu, and Agosto Machado. Lo Forte also directs.
Featured performers include Diaz, Lenzu, Bree Breeden, Gerard Minaya, and Chris Riffle. Machado, a iconic activist and drag performance artist best known for his work with legendary downtown performer Jackie Curtis and Playhouse of the Ridiculous, appears via video interviews.
Pioneers Go East Collective, established in 2010 and inspired by the poem “Pioneers! O Pioneers!” by Walt Whitman, “merges storytelling and interview-based documentary to expose the realities of queer identity and otherness to provoke understanding and promote social justice.”
Virgo Star begins November 14 and runs through December 1 at La MaMa’s Downstairs Lounge in New York.
Performance Trailer: Virgo Star from ZANNI Productions on Vimeo.