THEATER
Talkin' bout a revolution
PORTLAND GAY
Intercourse will (further) shake up
your assumptions about sex and gender
by
MEN’S CHORUS
V o ic e s o f P ride
W e d n e s d a y , J u n e 1 2 , 2 0 0 2 @ 7 : 3 0 p .m .
Kaul A uditorium , Reed C ollege
3rd Annual
Rainbow Ball
F r id a y , J u n e 1 4 , 2 0 0 2
9 p . m . — 2 a .m .
C rystal Ballroom
D w n tw n PDX
T h e O fficial k ic k off to th e
7 0 s a n d 8 0 ‘s R e t r o D i s c o I n f e r n o '
Online
w w w .pdxgm C .orq
ark your calendars! Portland activist
Emi Koyama is putting together Inter-
course : A Sex and Gender Spoken Word
Recipe for Revolution May 25 at Holly
wood Theatre.
If everything we read is true, we’ll be treated
to a “dynamic evening of performance, connec
tion and celebration of intersex, genderqueer,
sex worker and trans communities.. .designed
to raise awareness about our lives and realities
and to build communities for ourselves and our
allies through spoken-word performances.”
“ Badass Jew dyke” Nomy Lamm talks back
Twelve artists will perform, including
at Intercourse
Olympia’s Nomy Lamm, a self-proclaimed
would have something tangible to take home.
“badass, fatass, Jew, dyke, amputee, performance
Koyama helped out at the San Francisco
artist, writer and activist.” Her work has been
function and is, without sponsorship, organiz
published widely in magazines and anthologies,
including Ms., Seventeen, Listen Up: Voices from
ing this one with any proceeds split between
the Intersex Society of North America and the
the Next Feminist Generation and Body Outlaws:
Survivor Project, a Portland nonprofit dedicat
Young Women Write About Body Image and Identity.
ed to addressing issues faced by intersex and
Lamm co-wrote The Transfused, a full-
trans survivors of domestic and sexual violence.
length, post-apocalyptic rock opera, with Port
Koyama, who was ISNA’s activist-in-residence
land band the Need, and she recently toured
last summer, describes herself as (in addition to
with the production Doctor Frockrocket’s Vivify'
other things) “a multi-issue, social justice, slut,
ing (Re'Animatronic) Menagerie and Medicine
synthesizing, feminist, Asian, survivor, dyke,
Show. She was named one of Ms. magazine’s
queer, sex worker, intersex, genderqueer crip.”
1997 “Women of the Year,” and in 2000 she
That’s a mouthful, but it illustrates Koya-
was one of Out magazine’s “Out 100.”
ma’s (and Intercourse’s) emphasis on crossing
Qwo-Li Driskill is also on the Intercourse line
up; s/he is the founder and director of Knitborie
categorical boundaries. “The performers I asked
are the people I respect the most both as
Productions, an ensemble of First Nations People
of the Americas and Hawai’i, who use writing,
activists and as artists.. .who are actively
theater and story as tools for healing, continu
involved in...many other issues such as envi
ronmental justice, gentrification, fat oppres
ance and decolonization. A director, writer and
actor as well as a poet and activist, Driskill’s work
sion, Native sovereignty, sexual and domestic
violence and so on. As a result, I feel we have a
has appeared in numerous Native, queer, people
of color and scholarly publications.
pretty good mix of people who come from very
diverse backgrounds and experiences.”
On the home front, Portland performers
Leslie and Stacey Bull turn up their raw, per
Koyama expects the event to sell out and
sonal, political prose. Other locals appearing
hopes the audience walks away “excited about
include Lamya “Amir” el-Chidiac, Diana
our communities. I want Intercourse to he an
Courvant and Koyama.
opportunity to make connections.. .between
different movements., .and to celebrate the
strength we have in
an Fraijcisco poetry
slam champion and
alliances. I want them tp
realize that expressive art is
intersex activist Thea
Hillman, who, along with
not just a leisure for the few
but a survival and coping
Solidad di Costa, coordi
nated the first Intercourse
skill for all of us who live
last year as part of the
complicated lives.”
National Queer Arts Festi
If that’s not enough to get
val in San Francisco, is on
you through the door, one
the slate as well. She and
lucky person will walk away
di Costa attended the Cre
with an autographed tie of
ating Change conference
Leslie Feinberg as a raffle
in 2000 with the Intersex
prize. And consider Koyama’s
Society of North America.
audience estimation: “500 of
“We both committed to
the cutest and coolest queers,
helping raise awareness
trannies, sex workers, herms,
about intersex issues,” Hill
genderqueers and friends from
man states. “As performers,
all over the Northwest!”
we thought the best
way...was to produce a
I ntercourse : A S ex and
show with intersex artists
G ender S poken W ord
in it. The more we organ
R ecipe for R evolution
ized, the more we realized
starts 7 p.m. May 25 at Hol
that we wanted to really
lywood Theatre, 4122 N .E .
shake things up with a big
Sandy Blvd. Tickets are $10'
event and that we wanted
$50 sliding scale at the door or
lots of perspectives from
$8 in advance from In Other
ntercourse organizer and performer
sex and gender rebels.”
Words, Hollywood Theatre,
Emi Koyama
Hillman explains that
Miss Mona s Rack or
in order to “harness the excitement and infor
www.eminism .org/intercourse. No one will be
mation of the evening,” they made a whole
turned away for lack of funds.
event out of the performances, including booths
of community organizations, so the audience
HADLEY S cott is a Portland free'lance writer.
M
S
jn
Pride N o rth w e s t W e e k e n d !
To P u r c h a s e T i c k e t s C o n t a c t
H adley S co tt
PGMC