"An Annual, Traveling Night of Vaudevillian Genderfuck"
Photos by Kina Williams. From Left to Right: Smarmy Chorus Girls (Chicago), Thisway/Thatway (Oakland), Cattitude Dance Ensemble (Portland)
About
Freakshow-a-Go-Go is an annual event intended to create a space where the nation's most innovative gender performers and local artist of the hosting city can share a stage in a collaborative atmosphere. Freakshow-a-Go-Go aims to reclaim freakshows as an empowered art form and promises to be a show where instead of being objectified, we perform our freakiness in sexy, campy, inspirational, and revolutionary ways.
History
In May of 2008, Pants-Off Productions produced
Freakshow-a-Go-Go (a night of vaudevillian genderfuck) and brought together some of the hottest queers to
hit the Portland stage, including performers from Chicago, Austin, San
Francisco and Santa Fe as well as local artists. The show was such a
success that The Austin Drag Collective in Austin, TX decided
to carry on the legacy, and produced & hosted Freakshow-a-Go-Go: Austin: a night of revelry and gender illusion, in
May 2009! Freakshow-a-Go-Go Austin, TX featured local talent as well as performers from Durham, Portland, Houston, New Orleans and Oakland. The third Freakshow-a-Go-Go happened in Spring 2010 in Seattle, WA, and in May 2011 FAGG will be traveling to Madison, Wisconsin! Stay tuned for details!
Mission Statement
As freaks, we use the stage to claim space
for our genders, our sexualities and our bodies. We perform our
freakiness and thus reveal new definitions of sexy. We dislodge notions
of "normal" and create new narratives. From the stage, we can effect
change, in ourselves and in our audience. We can re-claim Freakshows as
an empowered art form, a show where instead of being objectified, we
perform our freakiness in sexy, fun, campy, inspirational, and
revolutionary ways.