OUTsider: Connections, Conversations, and Family

One of my favorite aspects of art and performance is putting related pieces into conversation with one another, enriching the conversation surrounding a given topic. I’m so very happy with the way OUTsider Festival’s programming is facilitating those sorts of conversations, and I only wish I had the opportunity to participate more fully this year. […]

OUTsider Fest: Queerness Past, Present, and Future

The creators of OUTsider Festival in Austin really did their homework as far as covering a large scope and breadth of queer art and performance in the programming. Which on the one hand, is refreshing and inspiring. But on the other hand, means that there is just so, so much to discuss. Festivals, conferences, art, […]

OUTsider Fest: Khmer Classical Dance

I never feel quite so Western as in those moments when I’m confronted with Asian modes of performance. So it’s only fitting that the second night of OUTsider Festival in Austin featured a performance by Prumsodun Ok, a practitioner of Cambodia’s Khmer classical dance. I think it’s important to be aware of and claim those moments […]

OUTsider Festival: Narcissister and Gay Wax Museum

I wasn’t sure what to expect when headed to see Narcissister for the opening night of OUTsider Festival in Austin. Narcissister’s name is what it sounds like; the complication of our cultural understanding of the narcissist juxtaposed with the idea of sisterhood, and how being a “sister” relates to the identities of women of color […]

Review: Thr3e Zisters at the Salvage Vanguard

Zombie feminist theatre. That’s what Thr3e Zisters, the Salvage Vanguard’s new interpretation of Anton Chekhov’s The Three Sisters, claimed to be. I was intrigued, excited. This, I thought, is a show I must see. As those familiar with the theatre world know, Chekhov adaptations are a dime a dozen. I’ve never been hugely enamored of […]

Behind BedPost Confessions

What happens when several women writing about sex-positive issues on-line start talking to each another? In this particular case, it resulted in the long-running, sex-positive, monthly live performance event BedPost Confessions here in Austin. Co-producers Mia Martina, Sadie Smythe, and Julie Gillis all met virtually through their podcasts and blogs. Sadie knew co-producerRosie Q from […]

Review: Kumu Hina

Frameline award-winning Kumu Hina (“Teacher Hina”) is a new documentary by directors Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson. Hamer and Wilson previously worked together on Out in the Silence, a film about LGBTQ individuals in rural America, and the discrimination and bigotry they often face. It was during an Out in the Silence screening in Hawaii […]