Caps Lock Theatre Presents PUSSYFEST VI: You Cannot Destroy Pussyfest

Caps Lock Theatre presents PUSSYFEST VI: You Cannot Destroy Pussyfest on Tuesday, January 22, 2019 at 8pm at Town Stages, 221 West Broadway, NYC. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at https://youcannotdestroypussyfest.brownpapertickets.com/.

Caps Lock Theatre (Mariah MacCarthy, Melissa Lusk, Leta Tremblay) is the recipient of a 2018 Sokoloff Arts Fellowship.

PUSSYFEST VI features monologues about the body, custom-written for New York's finest femme and gender-defying actors. An exaltation of the body, this is Caps Lock's sixth annual Pussyfest.

This year's Pussyfest is a fundraiser for Third Wave Fund(www.thirdwavefund.org). Third Wave Fund is the only activist fund led by and for women of color, intersex, queer, and trans folks under 35 years old in the US. They ensure young women, queer, and trans youth of color have the tools and resources they need to lead powerful movements, and that they have a seat at the table within philanthropy. Third Wave supports gender justice groups from the ground up with rapid response grants, long-term funding for emerging groups, and capacity building.

The evening will also feature music from:

You Cannot Destroy Me

A Joan of Arc musical

Music & Lyrics by Melissa Lusk & Mariah MacCarthy

Directed by Leta Tremblay

Featuring Amy Sheehan and Hannah Fairchild with the band The LoveHowl

Joan of Arc, whose heart could not be burned no matter how many times the English tried, who died for the sin of wearing men's clothing, who led an army despite being an illiterate farmgirl, whose temper ran short and faith ran deep, who heard voices, who would drive you away at swordpoint if she didn't want you there, appears to a teenager in a trailer park named Jo one morning. Jo has been given a mission from God. There's a woman; her name is Daphne Charles; and she must become President of the United States. You Cannot Destroy Me is a country/hard-rock musical epic, a call to arms against climate change, and a passing of the torch across history from one gender-rebel heroine to another.

"Town Stages is a space that is committed to supporting works that deconolize representation on our stages and screens," said Robin Sokoloff, Executive Director of Town Stages. "We couldn't be more proud to be this year's platform for Caps Lock Theatre's Pussyfest. Melissa Lusk, Mariah MacCarthy, and Leta Tremblay are in the creative trenches doing the important work that transforms how we look at the world, as they show us how we can build and experience a more humanistic and equitable world for all."

About the Creators

Melissa Lusk is a Brooklyn-based singer, songwriter, legal secretary, and mother of a three-year-old. She is a member of local bands Teen Girl Scientist Monthly and Boy Girl Party and does a lot of voices on the podcast The Fall of the House of Sunshine. She really, really loves to write for theater and is doing that, so that's pretty great. Previous projects include feminist pop concert Baby No More Times (Ars Nova), millennial identity crisis i wonder if it's possible to have a love affair that lasts forever, or things i found on craigslist (Dream Up Festival, University of Illinois Chicago), and political Gen Z TV musical Patriettes (The #Fword Finalist). BFA: NYU Tisch School of Drama (ETW, The Classical Studio).

Mariah MacCarthy is a nonbinary creatrix whose work centers sex-positivity, dance, and flawed queers having big feelings. Indie Theater Hall of Fame (nytheatre.com person of the year), PoNY nominee. Plays: Honors Students(Wild Project),Mrs. Mayfield's Fifth-Grade Class of '93 20-Year Reunion ("a lot of fun " -The New York Times), Baby Mama: One Woman's Quest to Give Her Child to Gay People (Ensemble Studio Theatre and Edinburgh Fringe, viewed over 42,000 times on YouTube, two NYIT Award nominations), Magic Trick (winner: Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award, Lotos Foundation Prize in the Arts and Sciences), The Foreplay Play (two NYIT Award nominations), Ampersand: A Romeo & Juliet Story (twenty Looking Glass Forum Awards, FringeNYC "Outstanding Performance"), The All-American Genderf*ck Cabaret ("f*cking brilliant" -Kate Bornstein). Executive Artistic Director of Caps Lock Theatre, Associate Artistic Director-at-Large of The Brick, alum of Youngblood and founding member of Lather/Rinse/Repeat. mariahmaccarthy.com/ or support their work on Patreon: patreon.com/mariahm

Leta Tremblay is a Theatrical Director based in New York City who strives to create space for Intersectional Feminism, Queer Voices, and Revolution in her artistic pursuits. The New York Times called her work; "Sweet and boisterous... an adventure and an event." She recently assisted acclaimed Siti Company Artistic Director Anne Bogart on Kurt Weill's musical opera LOST IN THE STARS at CAP UCLA and is a graduate of Smith College and the Eugene O'Neill National Theatre Institute, where she now returns as a teacher and mentor. Leta is the Producing Artistic Director of Caps Lock Theatre and an associate member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. www.letatremblay.com

About Caps Lock Theatre

Funny. Ugly. Human.

These are the kinds of plays we do. We like plays where people are at both their worst and their best; where people screw each other-or themselves-over, and have to find a way to deal with it; where people's hearts hurt, or open, or blossom.

We also believe in fun. Our plays will probably make you laugh. Probably more than once.

And we believe in creating art by whatever means necessary. If we are fortunate enough to piece together enough resources for lavish sets and fabulous special effects, awesome. If (more likely) we have to make work on a shoestring budget, on-the-fly, in an unconventional location, then we'll do that and still knock your socks off.

Oh yeah, and we're New York-based.

For more information, visit https://capslocktheatre.com/.