Amy Raasch's THE ANIMAL MONOLOGUES Comes to Bootleg Theater

Winner of Son of Semele Theatre Company's Solo Creation Festival 2017, media installation artist Amy Raasch follows her recent NYC debut with a handful of timely new characters in a freshly-expanded version of her new multimedia show, "The Animal Monologues," opening at the Bootleg Theater as part of the Solo Queens Festival in Los Angeles October 25.

Fast-moving, entertaining, and full of heart, the piece features the hopeful perspective of a young descendent of last living 9/11 Search and Rescue dog, Bretagne, who worked twelve-hour shifts at Ground Zero and became an international symbol of 9/11 heroism. When researching the story, Raasch learned that over 300 dogs from all over the world had worked the World Trade Center site, many entering spaces too tight for firefighters. As the mission turned from rescue to recovery, firefighters hid in the rubble to give the dogs a reason to keep looking. "New York stands as a beacon of resilience, grit, and hope in the face of tragedy. I wanted to offer thanks and respect to the city and to the human and canine heroes whose legacy has inspired a new generation of activists."

Turning her idiosyncratic lens on current events to Colin Kaepernick's activism, Raasch proffers a wise donkey's perspective of the late-2017 Twitter roasting of an anti-protest protest song by an unknown country singer entitled, "Take A Knee, My Ass (I Won't Take a Knee)."

Directed by LA Drama Critics Circle Award winner Matthew McCray, "The Animal Monologues" hits home with up-to-the-minute fables that address how humans contend with the wildness in their neighborhoods and inside their own skins. Vibrant with campy, lo-fi video, soulful masks, vocal effects, and an evocative, electro-orchestral score by go-to "Nashville" songwriter and Sundance Institute Fellow David Poe, the lively, uncategorizable piece has captivated audiences in theaters and rock clubs alike. The event also interweaves Raasch's short film, "Cat Bird Coyote," winner of the Los Angeles Independent and Big Apple International Film Festivals and Official Selection of 17 fests, animated by Annie Award nominee Tahnee Gehm.

By voicing human concerns through animal characters, Raasch playfully re-contextualizes otherness through the lens of the animal kingdom, challenging the audience to embrace a more inclusive view of the world. "Unlike humans, animals operate purely from instinct, so they can't do anything wrong. Stories told from the viewpoint of animals, who we tend to perceive as innocent, provide a way to view life experience outside the cultural programming that can precipitate unconscious judgments of people before we even know their names."

An adoptee herself, Raasch has always had a soft spot for homeless animals. Her web installation, "KITTY DECIDES," benefits animal rescue and has become a stealth feminist slogan seen at the past two Women's Marches. Trained at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Raasch has appeared in several productions for theater and feature film, including Stephen Chbosky's "the four corners of nowhere," and recently contributed music to Sony Classics release, "The Diary Of A Teenage Girl." Raasch's 2018 album of quirky electro-pop, "GIRLS GET COLD," is out now.

Bootleg Theater, named by Time Out as one of Los Angeles' "best performing arts centers," is a gathering place, a large 1930's warehouse, a home and a watering hole for adventurous Los Angeles performing artists and their audiences. The Bootleg's uniquely beautiful, nontraditional theater space inspires and compels artists and companies to create daring, genre-bending, striking performance events. Bootleg has a fierce belief in the power of the feminine in art to create change in the world and is proud to present SOLO QUEENS FEST 2, which celebrates the feminine life experience.

Tickets for "The Animal Monologues" are available online at http://theanimalmonologues.com (showtimes vary). Tickets are $15 Stud/Sen, $20 GA ($20/$25 at the door) and group discounts are available. Tickets for Amy's workshop, "The Animal Inside: Writing from Character" are $30. Bootleg Theater is located at 2220 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90057. Free parking is available at the church across the street at the intersection of Beverly and Roselake.

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