SAFEhouse for the Performing Arts Presents RAW Live Showcase!

SAFEhouse for the Performing Arts presents RAW: Resident Artists Workshop LIVE performances for in-person audiences for 3 nights totaling 4 different performances in December 2021.

SAFEhouse will support the intimate work of two very talented solo drag performers this season. On Saturday December 4th, James Andrew Wilson will take us on a journey as they portray a "bitchy drag queen" version of their very difficult grandmother and on Friday December 10th, SevanKelee Lucky 7 Boult will transform into the drag king "El SeVan" as they retell classic children's tales with story lines that reflect a broad range of sexualities, genderqueer and cis gendered characters.

Saturday December 11th will consist of two performances. The first show at 7pm will showcase the works of three strong female choreographers: Ann Dragich, Kat Lin, and Hannah Young. The second show at 9pm will feature the Driven Arts Collective, an entity born out of the SAFEhouse RAW program itself! With Anna Rebecca Harris at the helm for this project, the Driven Arts Collective explores the funeral of two individuals through a multidisciplinary performance looking at loss and the human rituals surrounding it.

"Bitch: The Drag Musical of the Life of My Grandmother" by James Andrew Wilson "My grandmother Betsy was a 'difficult woman.' Everyone says so. She was mean, she was spiteful. She glowered and glared. She guilted and mocked her children. She was an angry woman, trapped in the role of mother and housewife. She was always disappointed, always resentful. But she was also an adventurer, a vixen, an independent woman who chafed against the expectations that her time imposed upon her."

"Chile! Hood Stories" by SevanKelee Lucky 7 Boult is a 60 minute multidisciplinary theatre production exploring safe sex, gender fluidity, sexuality politics, and cannabis. Watch El SeVan the drag king, Lucky 7 the poet, and Foxy Loxy retell some classic children's tales with story lines that reflect a broad range of sexualities, genderqueer and cis gendered characters. Truth be told, fables were meant for adults all along!

"At Last" by Ann Dragich explores the perception of finding one's partner and getting married as a fun, sought after, socially advantageous experience and contrasts it with fear of what comes, or could come after a wedding- behavior changes rooted in patriarchy leading to an uneven distribution of work and effort in a relationship. This piece tells a story from a female viewpoint about a woman getting cold feet as her marriage approaches. Her fear is based in both real and imagined gender-specific inequities.

"eratosthenes sieve" by Kat Lin an experimental dance piece about prime numbers...and might be about the elimination of duplicity and searching for novelty.

"Seeking" by Hannah Young explores the difference between what was once possible and what is now possible-and the pathway to acceptance of how things are now. The music and movement highlight the feeling of rediscovery while honoring what has been lost.

Anna Rebecca Harris "This is a performative funeral of two people, one of whom was born in the shadow of an elder sister who passed away, the other of whom is seeking an emblematic death of who they have been until now - each of whom have experienced suicidal ideation. In the context of the pandemic, our relationships to death have been blown open, and our acceptance of inevitable death has become a necessity, while life has begun to glow in stark contrast as a privilege to be cherished / investigated / taken up in new forms. Bringing personal meaning to the performance, our audience will partake in a unique and communal living ritual as we cultivate a shared experience of depth and substance."

Learn more at safehousearts.org.

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