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Just Do Art! Week of June 27, 2013

Photo by Dixie Sheridan It’s yesterday, once more: 2012 FringeNYC hit “5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche” returns for Pride, prior to an open-ended run beginning on July 19.
Photo by Dixie Sheridan
It’s yesterday, once more: 2012 FringeNYC hit “5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche” returns for Pride, prior to an open-ended run beginning on July 19.

5 LESBIANS EATING A QUICHE
Oh, my. Is it 1956 again, already? Yes — and that means it’s time to return to those thrilling days of yesteryear, to join the Susan B. Anthony Society for the Sisters of Gertrude Stein, at their Annual Quiche Breakfast. One of last year’s FringeNYC breakout hits, Andrew Hobgood and Evan Linder’s seemingly clueless, but ultimately political, egg-centric creation casts audience members as honorary “Sisters” by virtue of their attendance at the annual breakfast. Presided over by a benign but strict cadre of self-professed widows whose motto (“No men, no meat, all manners”) is a recipe for what’s on the plate as well as what stirs their souls, “Society” as we know it will soon be put to the ultimate test — as Communists threaten their idyllic town, and the quite real possibility of nuclear annihilation sets the stage for some frank revelations. The presence of 2012 cast members Caitlin Chuckta, Rachel Farmer, Megan Johns, Thea Lux and Maari Suorsa promise this “Quiche” will snap, crackle and pop with all the chemistry, comedic timing and improvisational unpredictability that made it a cult fave the last time around.

Thurs., June 27 at 8pm and Fri./Sat., June 28/29 at 10:30pm (as of July 19, open-ended run every Fri/Sat at 10:30pm). At the Snapple Theater Center’s Anne L. Bernstein Theater (210 W. 50th St., at the corner of Broadway). For tickets ($40-$60), visit ticketmaster.com (rush tickets available for $25). Also visit facebook.com/5quiches and snappletheater.com.

Image courtesy of Three Rooms Press Author Hala Alyan, whose “Atrium” won the 2013 Arab American Book Award for poetry, will be among the authors who’ll read at July 5’s “That’s Independents!”
Image courtesy of Three Rooms Press
Author Hala Alyan, whose “Atrium” won the 2013 Arab American Book Award for poetry, will be among the authors who’ll read at July 5’s “That’s Independents!”

LIT READINGS: THE MONTHLY AT CORNELIA STREET CAFE PRESENTS “THAT’S INDEPENDENTS!”
Less than 24 hours after fireworks commemorate the first chapter in the tale of a rebellious young upstart called America, July’s installment of The Monthly at Cornelia Street Cafe celebrates independence of a very different (but no less defiant) kind — by making the case that while the sun may have set on the empire of major publishing houses, the future belongs to a plucky colony of badass and belligerent independent publishers.

“That’s Independents!” finds Three Rooms Press gathering together five rowdy, rebellious NYC-based independent presses whose body of work (and truth-telling, bird-flipping philosophy) does Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine proud. Each press will talk about their publishing ethos (and what sets them apart), then present work by some of their current authors.

Poet, playwright, director and Camille Paglia deconstructor Kat Georges hosts. The featured presses are: The Unbearables — a “free-floating, in-your-face Autonomous Zone of Dadaists, Noir Humorists and Beer Mystics” who ply their trade when not busy giving anti-seminars at The New School or picketing the New Yorker for its “shitty poetry.” Authors Peter Carlaftes and Hala Alyan (whose “Atrium” just won the 2013 Arab American Book Award for poetry) represent the creative output of event host Three Rooms Press (champions of “real-life poetry, fiction, drama and art”). Aimee Herman, Megan Dibello, Daniel Dissinger and Sam Jablon will read from their work, as published by In Stereo Press — an online zine “specializing in undiscovered/new/contemporary writing, music and visual art.” Brooklyn-based, pulp-obsessed “hip pocket paperback” publisher Kicks Books makes some noise, when founder Miriam Linna plays drums to the work of Harlan Ellison. Later this summer, Kicks will present collections of poetry by British beat hero Royston Ellis and American road poet laureate Charles Plymell. Focused on “the unpredictable, the bright, the dark and the innovative” poetry and prose of both national and international writers, Great Weather For Media presents poets Rick Mullin and Frank Simone. Great Weather’s own reading and poetry open mic series, Spoken Word Sundays, takes place every week, 4-6pm, in the back room at Parkside Lounge (317 E. Houston St., at Attorney St.).

“That’s Independents!” happens Fri., July 5, at 6pm (doors open at 5:45pm). At the Cornelia Street Cafe (29 Cornelia St., btw. Bleecker & W. Fourth St.). Admission ($8) includes one free drink. For info on the participants, visit unbearables.com, instereopress.com, nortonrecords.com/kicksbooks, greatweatherformedia.com and threeroomspress.com.

Image courtesy of the filmmaker and distributor Turn the beat around: “The Secret Disco Revolution” makes the case for the much-maligned genre’s social significance.
Image courtesy of the filmmaker and distributor
Turn the beat around: “The Secret Disco Revolution” makes the case for the much-maligned genre’s social significance.

FILM: THE SECRET DISCO REVOLUTION
Director Jamie Kastner’s pseudo-documentary “The Secret Disco Revolution” takes the standard issue drumbeat of criticism (“Disco sucks!”) and turns the beat around, by making the case that the famously flaky and sinfully shallow form of music was nothing short of revolutionary. Disco, Kastner argues, was actually an empowering vehicle for the mass liberation of gays, blacks and women. But even the filmmaker finds it difficult to resist the allure of viewing disco with a smirk. As it Electric Slides from the past to the present, an unreliable narrator tosses off absurd observations — while speculative “reenactments” take astounding liberties with the facts. Whether you’ll buy into the film’s self-professed “tone of sustained irony” depends largely on your ability to overlook the cheesy exterior and find the love within — a skill that allowed millions of disco era roller skaters and booty shakers to cultivate an appreciation for the finer qualities of pop glitter. Recollections from the great (and, unfortunately, late) Village Voice columnist Michael Musto, disco icon Gloria Gaynor and members of Kool and the Gang keep things real, preventing the film from floating too far into the realm of silly satire.

Opens June 28, at Quad Cinema (34 W. 13th St., btw. Fifth & Sixth Aves.). For advance tickets, visit movietickets.com. For info, call 212-255-2243 or visit quadcinema.com.

Image courtesy of the artist and Michael Mut Gallery Wayne Hollowell’s “Madonna/MDNA” (40 in. x 40 in., Acrylic on canvas).
Image courtesy of the artist and Michael Mut Gallery
Wayne Hollowell’s “Madonna/MDNA” (40 in. x 40 in., Acrylic on canvas).

ART: DRAMA QUEEN BY WAYNE HOLLOWELL
Pour pity upon today’s young queers. They may be able to take their boyfriends to the prom — but when it comes to finding solace in the suffering of others while enduring the timeless slings and arrows of adolescence, our modern day icons and allies can’t hold a candle to the messes in dresses that mesmerized little Wayne Hollowell. Sorry, Lady Gaga — your double hip replacement surgery just isn’t in league with the noble, glamorous pain endured by the female icons of Hollowell’s 1970s rural North Carolina youth. “I always felt they were like the women in our trailer park, passed out in the yard,” the artist says of his muses.

Just in time for Pride, Hollowell’s “Drama Queen” has Michael Mut Gallery plastering its walls with oversized portraits that explore the spectral sadness that plagues so many of the stars we love. “I aim to invoke the complexity and despair of these characters while celebrating their camp factor,” Hollowell declares, noting that the healing balm of finding hope amidst sadness is “something the gay community has done for decades.”

Image courtesy of the artist and Michael Mut Gallery Wayne Hollowell’s “Liz Taylor, Martha, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolff?” (Acrylic on canvas, 36 in. x 36 in.).
Image courtesy of the artist and Michael Mut Gallery
Wayne Hollowell’s “Liz Taylor, Martha, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolff?” (Acrylic on canvas, 36 in. x 36 in.).

And why not, when you’ve got such a deep well to draw from? “Drama Queen” bathes its subjects in ugly beauty, by splashing “every color of Dorothy’s rainbow” onto the grim mugs of gay Hollywood and pop culture royalty. “Give me every drug you’ve got,” begs a weary Liza. Elsewhere, “Gay Saints” Nureyev, Tallulah Bankhead, Tennessee Williams and Andy Warhol share a single canvas while working their own highly stylized halos. The women of Mommie Dearest, Mahogany and Virginia Woolf are all captured in full-on worse-for-the-wear mode — while the more modern era is represented by Madonna and a manic, megalomaniacal Oprah (whose wide-eyed cry of “VAJAAAYJAAY” launches her into the realm of clueless camp royalty). Big Edie and Little Edie Beale (of “Grey Gardens” fame) also make it onto the walls, as do Sweet Brown, Ramona Singer and NeNe Leakes.

The gay old times continue to roll, from July 10-27 — with “Painted Love.” George Towne’s third solo show with the gallery is a play on words alluding to the 1981 song “Tainted Love.” Sung by Soft Cell’s Marc Almond, it became a well-known anthem for the gay community, thanks to lyrics like “I give you all a boy could give you.” But you already knew that, didn’t you. No? Then get your bad self to Michael Mut Gallery, where gay (old) school is now in session.

Free. “Drama Queen” is on exhibit through June 30, 2pm-9pm daily. “Painted Love” can be seen Wed.-Fri., 4-8pm and Sat. 12-6pm (call or check website for possible Sun. hours). At Michael Mut Gallery (97 Ave. C, btw. Sixth & Seventh Sts.). For info, call 212-677-7868 or visit michaelmutgallery.com. For more info on the “Drama Queen” artist, visit waynehollowell.com..jpg