Morgan Bassichis Brings DAMNED IF YOU DUET to The Kitchen

The Kitchen presents comedic musical performer Morgan Bassichis: Damned if You Duet, demonstrating that there's no better way to learn basic interpersonal skills in adulthood than to duet (November 1-2). In an evening of songs for two, Bassichis will perform the pleasure and pitfalls of the duo form with a lineup of very special guests: artist Malik Gaines, child star Helen Messineo-Pandjiris, cellist Ethan Philbrick, choreographer Mariana Valencia, and perhaps-falling as it does during a time of year where the "veil between the worlds of the living and the dead is thin"-some less tangible partners. Organized by Tim Griffin.

A duet can immediately facilitate a deep understanding and synchronicity with another person-or serve as a slyly narcissistic way of reframing oneself. Or, often, both. Says Bassichis, "My therapist recently told me that we grow through our relationships with other people, or I think he did, I can't remember his exact words because I was in significant caffeine withdrawal that day, but what I was left with was a clear inner message to do a show exclusively of duets. So I have asked some of my favorite performers to make something with me, just us two."

Bassichis performs with a bracing mix of earnestness and irreverence, coating it all, when singing, in a mellifluous voice. Bassichis' series of "protest songs," presented at Danspace Project last Spring, seldom sounded like the genre to which they nominally belonged; now, Bassichis wonders what else a love song can do for us. Katherine Brewer Ball writes in Bomb, "Morgan's performances are conversational fairy-tales that take the audience into the steamy underbelly bathhouses of the self-help and tincture-obsessed mind...When I find myself explaining it to my students or friends, my voice tends to trail off, not wanting to fix something that feels ethereal, resistant, and alive."

Morgan Bassichis: Damned if You Duet will take place November 1-2 at 8pm at The Kitchen, 512 W 19th St, New York. Tickets ($20 General / $15 Members), are available online at thekitchen.org; by phone at 212.255.5793 x11; and in person at The Kitchen, Tuesdays-Saturdays, 2:00-6:00pm.

About Morgan Bassichis

Morgan Bassichis is a comedic performer whose shows have been described as "out there" (by Morgan's mother) and "super intense" (by Morgan). Morgan has performed at Artists Space, MoMA PS1, Poetry Project, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, and the Whitney Museum. Recent projects include a musical adaptation of Larry Mitchell and Ned Asta's 1977 manifesto-fairy-tale, The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions, at the New Museum (with TM Davy, DonChristian Jones, Michi Osato, and Una Osato), and More Protest Songs! at Danspace Project, which resulted in a live album recording. Morgan's yearlong residency with Recess, To Do 2017, can be found online. Morgan has received support from Art Matters, BOFFO, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC), Queer/Art/Mentorship, and the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation. Morgan lives in New York City, and has published essays in the Radical History Review, Captive Genders, and other anthologies.

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