LUCKY STAR: superstar. A meta creative conversation.
LUCKY STAR: superstar. A meta creative conversation
What does it take to be a star? This is the question that Pioneers Go East Collective invites their viewers to ask themselves on LUCKY STAR, a “meta creative journey” that is their most recent work. This hybrid performance and video art installation is inspired by icons of the performance art scene in the 1970s coming out of Club 57 and The Pyramid Club. Borrowing vaudeville fabulousness to celebrate queer bodies, the objectification, creative endurance, and pursuit of artistic stardom, it is queer, trippy irreverent, with performers cast as alternate-universe superstar versions of themselves. Join us as we speak to Daniel Diaz, Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte, Agosto Machado, and Philip Treviño about LUCKY STAR, which can be viewed here.
SYNOPSIS
Episode 1 – “How can I be in control?” features Feminist and Latinx choreographer Anabella Lenzu. Anabella reflects on the struggle of wanting to be on stage, to be a star, the applause, and the adrenaline of being on stage. This episode deals with the sense of confinement during the lockdown, and with the feeling of not being able to control our life during this time.
Episode 2 – “Beautiful Spanish matador” Gay Latinx artist Daniel Diaz is cast as a supernatural, alternate-universe superstar version of himself. Daniel finds inspiration in his icons “beautiful, bleached blonde, and tuff as nails,” including his childhood icon Josephine Baker. The stage is the sacred space where Daniel reflects on family, identity, queerness, and the pursuit of happiness.
Episode 3 – “The emerald shiny green Pegasus” Lesbian performance artist Bree Breeden’s story explores intimacy and queer identity through the lens of dance. Playful and inventive, Bree describes how she is empowered by her female icons, including Missy Elliott. Bree channels her energy and can be both intense and dramatic when she performs on stage. Bree magically is transformed into her favorite being: the mythical Pegasus, half-human, half superhero. Like Pegasus, she learns to dance, to shift gravity, operating off of pure energy.
ABOUT PIONEERS GO EAST COLLECTIVE
Pioneers Go East Collective (the collective) is a small-scale arts and cultural organization inspiring a lively exchange of queer art and culture by connecting people to ideas and experiences. They empower a collective of thought-provoking, adventurous, and proud LGBTQ artists, and are dedicated to Latinx, BIPOC, and immigrant artists and teaching artists and their communities in all 5 boroughs. Please visit their website for more information.
Daniel Diaz (performer & writer) is a NYC-based performance artist. Daniel creates works from a queer male perspective to inform audiences and bring clarity on social-political injustices through storytelling, burlesque, choreography and video projects. With a focus on modern and interpretive dance, Daniel has performed at various New York City venues including La MaMa, Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, PS1 MoMa, Brooklyn Museum, The Coney Island Sideshow, Joe’s Pub, Dixon Place, Performance Mix/ New Dance Alliance.
Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte (writer & director) is a NYSCA Individual Artist recipient (2019), Foundation for Contemporary Arts’ Emergency Grant in Performance (2019); and he was finalist for the Jerome Foundation’s 2019-20 Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship in Theatre. Gian Marco Riccardo is a NYC-based writer, director, and video-maker dedicated to performance and installations that reflect queer perspectives and vulnerability. He founded Pioneers Go East Collective in 2010.
Agosto Machado (writer, performer, artist, activist, witness) is best known for his work with Ellen Stewart’s La Mama ETC, and his association with Jack Smith, Mario Montez, Jackie Curtis, Holly Woodlawn, Candy Darling, Marsha P Johnson, Ronald and Harvey Tavel, Ethyl Eichelberger, and Peter Hujar. Agosto appeared in over 30 Off-Off Broadway plays by Ken Bernard, Jackie Curtis, Al Carmines, Harvey Fierstein, H.M. Koutoukas, Megan Terry, Jeff Weiss. He is a member of John Vaccaros’ ‘Playhouse of the Ridiculous.’
Philip Treviño (production designer, writer) is a 2010 recipient of a New York Dance and Performance Award (BESSIE) for his lighting and scenic design for Pam Tanowitz’s Be In The Gray With Me. His work has toured nationally and internationally at such notable venues as BAM, The Joyce, Joyce Soho, DTW, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, The Kitchen, La MaMa ETC., New York City Center and Jacob’s Pillow. He is a proud alumnus of San Francisco State University where he received a BA in Drama and a Minor in Music. Philip is Technical Director for the Dance Department at Marymount Manhattan College where he teaches Stagecraft for Dance. Complete details available at philiptrevino.com
Photo Credit:
Lucky Star by Pioneers Go East Collective (featuring Daniel Diaz)
Image by ZANNI Productions
DETAILS:
Thursday, May 6, 2021
6:30 p.m. ET
$10 suggested donation