2nd Annual Queerly Festival to Play The Kraine Theater, 6/20-7/2

FRIGID New York @ Horse Trade is proud to present the second annual Queerly, a festival seen through lavender-colored glasses, June 20-July 2 at The Kraine Theater (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery). This year, we're bringing together some of New York City's best performers for a celebration of this diverse, strong, sharing-minded community told through stories, songs, poetry and plays. Tickets ($20, unless otherwise noted) are available for purchase in advance at www.horseTRADE.info.

The Monthly Question

Monday, June 20 @ 8:30pm FREE

The Monthly Question is a free cold reading series of new and bold short plays, poems, and songs centered around Lama's monthly question, which we pose to each months writers. Lama's special question for June's Queerly Festival will be "WHY HOMOPHOBIA?"

Upstream Swimming

Written & Performed by Lindsey Steinert

Tuesday, June 21 @ 8pm

In the late 80's (before having same-sex parents was considered "cool"), Dad and Pop decided they wanted to have a family. A few years and many unique attempts later - enter Lindsey: your typical 20-something year old girl, who just happens to have two gay dads. From justifying her singleness to her puzzled fathers, to addressing her anxieties - which range from not being interesting enough to stalk, to contracting malaria on the subway - it's clear she isn't always as put-together as she looks. But is her "untraditional" upbringing to blame? Join Lindsey in this first-of-its-kind show, and hear an actual child of same-sex parents explain why, despite having spent her lifetime swimming against the current, she wouldn't have it any other way.

NO! I'M the Worst!

Wednesday, June 22 @ 8pm
In three dirty rounds, 3 horrible queers compete to tell the most ribald, raunchy, taboo tales. It's a storytelling competition with a trashy twist. Featuring Kevin R. Free and three other pigs (to be announced).

blks.

Written by Aziza Barnes

Thursday, June 23 @ 8pm $5 Suggested Donation

Octavia, wakes up to find a mole on her clitoris. When her partner Ry refuses to examine it, Octavia kicks her out and decides to have a last night partying with her roommates June and Imani before her mole removal surgery the next morning.

30 Queer Plays in 60 Straight Minutes

Presented by The New York Neo-Futurists

Friday, June 24 @ 10:30pm $20 in advance, $25 at the door

The New York Neo-Futurists present 30 Queer Plays in 60 Straight Minutes, a special edition of their ongoing show Too Much Light Make The Baby Go Blind. The Neos race against the clock as they attempt to perform plays in two minutes or less in a random order decided by the audience. The plays, written by the ensemble, investigate queer culture, politics, relationships, sexuality, and everything and anything queer. Proceeds benefit the Neo-Angel program, the Neo's ongoing initiative committed to make their work culturally and financial accessible in NYC. Advanced ticket purchase strongly encouraged. nynf.org

Where Project

Saturday, June 25 @ 7pm

The Where Project is a two-act storytelling event. Artists, writers and performers share stories in response to "Where are you from?" in the first act and "Where are you going?" in the second act. In answering these questions with dynamic, heartfelt storytelling and original music, The Where Project hopes to cultivate and share meaningful, hilarious, human stories that capture where we are right now.

MikeyPod Live!

Hosted by Michael Harren

Monday, June 27 @ 8pm

Hosted and curated by Brooklyn-based composer and performer Michael Harren, "MikeyPod Live" is the first ever, live episode of the long-running MikeyPod podcast. For over ten years, MikeyPod has been bringing you the best in indie media and culture, and now, just for Queerly, we've brought together a ridiculously diverse collection of queer musicians and performers including Eve Beglarian, Duncan Pflaster, Victoria Libertore, and Will Shishmanian!

The Fire This Time Open Mic

Hosted by Najah Imani Muhammad & Angelica Cheri

Musical Accompanist Germono Toussaint

Tuesday, June 28 @ 7pm $5 Suggested Donation

As part of an initiative to present programming beyond it's annual winter festival, the Obie award winning The Fire This Time Festival presents a bi-monthly Open Mic night on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month. The festival's motto is the African American experience cannot be represented by one voice alone. At the Open Mic Nights, artists of all ethnicities and the LGBT community are welcome to share their work in a safe space.

Dandy Darkly Myth Mouth! Preview

Written & Performed by Dandy Darkly

Wednesday, June 29 @ 8pm

New York City's cult horror sensation makes his Queerly Festival debut with a preview of his latest storytelling cabaret focused on ancient religion, deadly addiction and retro science fiction. Calling all poets, perverts, addicts and hackers. Crash land on Planet Dandy!

Permitted

Written by Kirya Traber

Thursday, June 30 @ 8pm $5 Suggested Donation

1948, Gladys Bentley, a once (in)famous Harlem renaissance performer known for breaking the rules for gender and sexuality, finds herself at a crossroads. When she is denied a permit to perform, she is threatened with professional ruin and time in prison if she doesn't "change her act" on stage, and in her personal life.

Queer Memoir

Saturday, July 2 @ 8pm

Queer Memoir is New York's longest-running LGBT themed storytelling series: We're celebrating five years of giving voice to our collective queer experience and preserving and documenting our complex queer history. Every month, we host some of Queer New York's best known performers, and folks who have never been on a stage in their lives. In this special edition, we share stories about our bathroom experiences, which, if certain elected officials have their way, are going to be even scarier than before.