Planet Ant Presents 'Live Out Fest' Celebrating National Coming Out Day and LGBTQ+ Creative Identity

Planet Ant Theatre is thrilled to join forces with Kristi Faulkner Dance for the first annual Live Out Fest, featuring the world premiere of "Not In My House" in part of a three-day festival celebrating LGBTQ+ identity & freedom. Kicking off on National Coming Out Day, Live Out Fest is a tribute to the healing, liberating, revolutionary power of art to the LGBTQ+ community. Live Out seeks to bring the local community together from all corners of metro Detroit to celebrate and connect with one another through our collective commitment to stand in truth and consciously live out our most beautiful, authentic, queer selves - expressed through the creation and integration of art in all its forms. The festival features dance, music, spoken-word poetry, performance art, comedy, burlesque, and more from local artists and creatives in the LGBTQ+ community.

The connecting thread throughout the three days of the festival will be a nightly performance of "Not In My House," a collaboration between Kristi Faulkner Dance and the Ruth Ellis Center to engage and inspire LGBTQ+ youth and the Detroit community through performance and storytelling. "Not in My House" references the protective structure of families, known as "houses" within the vogue community, which represent belonging, security, and often replace biological families who disown LGBTQ+ youth. It is within these chosen families that LGBTQ+ youth learn to navigate the challenges of living in a world that often judges, fears, hurts, and very often harms LGBTQ+ individuals simply because of who they are. "Not in My House" is built on the premise that by sharing our stories, we create a world in which identity and difference can unite, rather than divide. This multi-year collaboration has resulted in the creation of an original live performance blending the aesthetics of vogue and contemporary dance to explore LGBTQ identity and challenge gender norms though the creative re-imagining of our coming out stories. Comprised entirely of artists identifying as LGBTQ+, "Not in My House" radically shifts the narrative about LGBTQ+ identity by placing the power in the hands of those who can tell their own stories with authenticity. "Not in My House" seeks to inspire and empower LGBTQ+ youth to live their truth by providing representation of queer voices, specifically queer voices of color, in a society that often silences and marginalizes those voices.

"Not In My House" runs approximately 60 minutes and will perform Thursday and Friday at 8pm and Saturday at 9pm, with carefully curated programming leading up to and following each performance.

The full lineup for Live Out Fest will be announced soon; other notable acts include Detroit's best local stand-up showcase featuring exclusively women + LGBTQ+ performers, "Quix, Women & Queers," and a drag / burlesque revue with performers from "Not In My House" & Planet Ant's "Gender Bender," hosted by dynamic Detroit personality Cole Davis. Saturday workshop options include voguing, sex + body positivity, intersectionality in improv; workshops will be announced and available for registration soon. "Coming Out on the Ant Hill" will feature Planet Ant's storytelling & spoken-word open-mic series in the spirit of Live Out. "Queer-aoke," live music, and dancing take turns rounding out each night of the festival.

LGBTQ+ identifying artists, musicians, and performers interested in submitting their act to the festival are invited to email kvb@planetant.com. Please include detailed description of your band/act/piece of work, as well as any relevant samples.

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