Autobiographical genderqueer comedies coming to NZ fringe!

Autobiographical genderqueer comedies coming to NZ fringe!

“Ze”: queer as fuck! is a dark comedy about sex, gender, and the expanding parade of labels and identities Michelle/Ryan claims on zir way to pride.

In this international queer origin story, Michelle/Ryan rips the bandage away from zir startling American Puritan upbringing and is catapulted by each new experience through a complex and surprising “coming out” process as a femmesexual, kinky, polyminded, gay-divorcée, genderquer. Along each step of the way ze discovers new community that at times is just as ridiculous and pigeon-holed as the one ze's just left.

Part theatre, story telling, and stand-up, Michelle/Ryan both uses and parodies the labels meant to help an individual embrace their truth in a modern world desperate for definition. “Ze” brings the audience along a rarely told journey of gender fluidity and micro-identities in a PRIDE-worthy celebration that exposes the tension between being authentic to oneself and truly belonging.

Presented by Michelle/Ryan, and directed by Peter Larsen, “Ze”: queer as fuck! has toured successfully in Australia, Canada, the US, and select locations in New Zealand. It has been nominated for best comedy at Fringe World in Perth, won “best use of an awkward silence” in Toronto, an “artistic risk” award in Vancouver, and has enjoyed rave reviews and sold-out audiences in every country.

“Ze” is Michelle/Ryan’s second autobiographical show and zir first performance at the New Zealand Fringe Festival. This will also be its Wellington debut.

Play Dates & Times:

Saturday, February 11, 7:00pm – 8:05pm

Tuesday, February 14, 7:00pm – 8:05pm

Wednesday, February 15, 7:00pm – 8:05pm

Thursday, February 16, 7:00pm – 8:05pm

Friday, February 17, 7:00pm – 8:05pm

The Ivy Bar, 49 Cuba Street, Wellington.

For Tickets web: https://fringe.co.nz

Tickets: $12-$20

Contains coarse language and explicit sexual references, 18+

I’m an Apache Attack Helicopter is the latest comedy project by genderqueer performance artist Michelle/Ryan that holds a mirror to the meme-obsessed, hashtag-happy, insulated world of cultural trolls and tone-police to remind us that we ALL humour things that make each of us ridiculous.

Online groups like 4chan and reddit forums, as well as comedians of all stripes, love poking fun at non-standard identities with comments like "only on tumblr," “snowflake,” and infinite satire images, sketches, and videos that suggest we've taken tolerance too far.

We laugh nervously, overwhelmed by the daily onslaught of new labels and politically correct identity politics, afraid of the hair-trigger defenses of hyper individualists....millennials in a minority of one and their UniQ "advocates." We’re not sure who is more counter-cultural, the Social Justice Warriors or the those who “say it like it is.”

Defying all safe-space, Michelle/Ryan is taking these subjects head on with self-deprecating humour that will put you at ease about zir identity, but maybe not your own. IAAAH suggests that there's a great deal more to laugh at than the unconventional and that we all take ourselves seriously in some pretty funny ways.

I'm an Apache Attack Helicopter is comedy in the works for upcoming stand-up appearances.

Play Dates & Times:

Saturday, February 11, 10:30pm – 11:15pm

Wednesday, February 15, 10:30pm – 11:15pm

Friday, February 17, 10:30pm – 11:15pm

The Ivy Bar, 49 Cuba Street, Wellington.

Tickets: Koha

Reservations can be made at: https://fringe.co.nz/

Contains coarse language and some sexual references, 18+

ends

© Scoop Media