Officially, Gay Pride Month is June, but at Dixon Place in New York City, July is the perfect climate for HOT! The Annual Celebration of Queer Culture. The festival of lesbian and gay theatre, music, dance, poetry, fiction, and performance art will run in Manhattan from July 5-30. On July 31, they will close out this year’s gala with The Big Boat Extravaganza on the Yankee Ferry Boat in Tribeca.
HOT! contains a plethora of works by 55 queer artists curated by Ellie Covan, who founded Dixon Place in 1986 -- in her living room. The works represent a wide range of artists by Covan, who tells Playbill On Line she was “looking for diversity; not only in ethnicity, but also in content... that’s the most important thing.”
On July 5, HOT! comes out of the, um, gate with its Opening Night Bash, an open-mike affair with special guest performer Reno (HBO Comedy Hour: Reno in Rage & Rehab). As is tradition at the anything-goes Bash, audience members are invited to drop their name in a hat, and those who are drawn get five minutes to perform queer material.
The line up for the rest of the month is as follows: (Admission is $12, unless noted otherwise.)
July 6 - Endless Air, Endless Water by Robert Shaffron and directed by John Streber: Two male astronauts fall in love on a lunar mission. $7 July 7 - Emmett Foster (Emmett: A One Mormon Show) discusses sex, intimacy, and dating; Kitchen Sink Drama, a new work by Moe Angelos’ Theatre of Compassionate Objects; and Philip Kain grapples with the memory of his dead mother after selling her wigs on eBay.
July 8 - Greg Walloch performs an original work; Victoria Libretore verbalizes on being a "shy stalker"; and Starla Muraz purges on women and weight.
July 11 - Confessions of a Bronx Tomboy, a new piece by Annie Lanzillotto; excerpts from Big Girls, Big Mouths, A Divine Misconception, a one-woman show, by Michelle Maullucci; and Skin Canoe, a creation of Jen Mitas and Zoe Ryder.
July 12 - Rage, Joy, Relief by solo artist Melissa Birch about the highs and lows of consciousness and desire; and Confession by Connie Winston about a subway encounter of two strangers. $10
July 13 - Poet-performer Regie Cabico presents Performers on the Ledge along with works by Gita Reddy and Rebecca Schneider. $10
July 14-15 - Cochina! by performance artist-actress Marga Gomez about what Latinas are not supposed to be; Tina Turner as Fairy Godmother to a Baby Dyke and other sketches by Regie Cabico and Aileen Cho. $15 - at door/ $12 - in advance
July 17 - Child of the Dolphin by Obie-winning actress performance artist Carmelita Tropicana (Milk of Amnesia); and playwright Jorge Ignasio Cortinas introduces his murderer-janitor, Odiseo. $15
July 18 - Perry Brass performs his Death of the Peonies with musical artist Peter McLeon; Where This Water Comes From by Ron Kurtz about a Holocaust survivor and his gay son; and Andrew “Andy Ohio” Horowitz delivers from his new work, Well, Fuck Me!. $8
July 19 - Lost Boy Found by Michael Burke delves into masculinity, pop culture, and footwear; Tom Bondi and Mark Holt play Miss Gay USA and her first runner-up; Ken Bullock performs new work Princess Sahara.
July 20-21 - Neurotica is portrayed by Carolin Brown and Sally Sockwell - A comedy about the art of wooing in virtual reality.; and excerpts from Spinoza’s Daughter by writer-witch Lexa Roséan.
July 22 - The Commander & The Lesbian by Judith Schray (Lesbian Affairs: A Live Soap) about love and peace amidst ethics, passion, and death.
July 24 - Jeff McMahon reads his new A Certain Release about a menáge a trois; and Coleman & Just a multimedia theatrical piece by Clarinda Mac Low and Tanya Barfield about both African-American icons.
July 25 - Why Doesn’t Elian Answer His Cell Phone Anymore? a new comedy by José Muñoz, Ana Margaret Sanchez, and Rebecca Sumner-Burgos, collectively know as Coco Frio.
July 26 - Ken Bullock returns with new work Collingsworth; Scotty the Blue Bunny performs What Can I Say? about the bunny suit lifestyle; and James “Tigger” Ferguson presents his Tigger Tails with special guest Julie Atlas Muz.
July 27 - Native South Africans Paul Browde and Murray Nossel reunited in New York, perform the history of their relationship in a world with AIDS as a dialogue. $15
July 28 - Jess Dobkin and Utopia Roaming present a night of queer puppets and lovely ladies about lesbian desire “from the waist up and down.”
July 29 - Timothy “Speed” Levitch will host an evening of music played by himself, his band, and a number of guest performers.
And to end the festival, on July 31,The Big Boat Extravaganza with a cornucopia of round-robin performances -- with a special laser show by Forward -- and by many of the artists that participated earlier in the month. All taking place aboard the Yankee Clipper Ferry Boat that is docked in the Hudson on Pier 25 (enter at West St. & Laight St.) $35, $50, and $100
For tickets to HOT! or for more info, call the Dixon Place box office, 309 East 26 St, at (212) 532-1546. Also visit Dixon Place on the internet at http://www.dixonplace.org.
-- by Ernio Hernandez
