'I’m an Apache Attack Helicopter' at Dunedin Fringe

Press Release
28 February 2017 - for Immediate Release
Notice: (“Ze” is a gender neutral pronoun for she/he, “zir” is a gender neutral pronoun for him/her. Please use ze/zir or they/them.)

I’m an Apache Attack Helicopter: a trigger-happy preview, presented by genderqueer performance artist Michelle/Ryan (of “Ze”: queer as fuck!), is a stand-up comedy set in-development for the New Zealand International Comedy Festival 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 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 progressives or the those who “say it like it is.”

Defying all safe-space, M/R 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.

Possible topics may include: the comedians' guide to understanding men and women, doing things religiously while not religious, pagans and people who believe they are werewolves, how to relax into your cisgendered-heterosexual-white-able-bodied-animate-human privilege, steps to becoming more-progressive-than-thou, and a number of personal stories and observations from far far outside the gender norms.

Michelle/Ryan has been nominated and won awards for comedy and artistic risk in Australia and Canada. I’m an Apache Attack Helicopter is zir first stand-up comedy set and zir third solo show. “Ze”: queer as fuck! (an autobiographical theatrical comedy about sex, gender, and the journey to authentic pride) is also returning to Dunedin for a final time as part of the Dunedin Fringe Festival.

Show Dates & Times:
Tuesday, 14 March, 10:00pm – 11:00pm
Thursday, 16 March, 10:00pm – 11:00pm
Saturday, 18 March, 7:00pm – 8:00pm

Purple Rain Retro Café, 403 Princes Street Dunedin
Tickets: Koha
Reservations can be made at: http://www.dunedinfringe.nz
Contains coarse language and some sexual references, 16+

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