|
Solo Performances
Complicated Courtesies
We all have them: aspects of our personalities, or interesting issues
that we don’t bring out in every kind of company. Do you handle your
various “selves” with panache and profundity? Or do you try to
pretend you’re only what you show a certain audience?
Dykeotomy
A comic-erotic-drama for adult audiences only, Dykeotomy is a funny, touching and erotic game of gender dodgeball!
Good Fortune
After 15 years of performances and readings, Kimberly Dark has learned a few
things about audiences. Through collaboration with six amazing visual artists, Dark reveals
these lessons in "Good Fortune," a solo performance in which spontaneity rules and no two shows are ever alike.
The difference between Kimberly's lectures and her performances is only this: during a lecture, the
themes are overt and include detailed analysis and contextual information. The humor, interaction,
scandal and fun? Still intact.
Becoming the Subject of Your Own Story - Rather Than the Object of Another's Gaze!
This spoken word performance uses humor and first-person storytelling to uncover the various
ways that women (and men) cheat the world of their fabulous human potential by focusing too
often on appearance, sweetness and popularity, rather than living full lives. The show does
not preach or instruct. Rather audience members discover their own empowerment through Kimberly's
funny and personal tales. Dark also offers five suggestions that can help anyone develop greater
personal sovereignty and start becoming a more vibrant participant in life.
Gender, Race and Money
One of America's great stories is that anyone can work hard and become wealthy. We love tales of triumph over adversity. However, many people work hard to meet basic needs and feel as though they are somehow personally to blame for their lack of prosperity. The gap between rich and poor in the United has been widening and this is particularly pronounced in communities of color and for women. During this engaging and interactive lecture, Dark teaches participants about trends -- both historical and current day -- in the distribution of wealth in America and how those trends effect all Americans. We can no longer afford not to understand the history of privilege and poverty, if we hope to create a world in which that American dream of fairness and prosperity can become a reality.
"Is that a Dude?" Lesbian Gendering: There's More To It Than You Think!
Have you ever stared, trying to figure out if someone is male or female? Have you ever wondered why we care so much? This lecture/performance explores "lesbian gender" in the context of cultural misogyny and systems of oppression and discrimination. In the process, she also explores the bigger picture of privilege and oppression (based on race, class, gender, etc.) As engaging for primarily heterosexual audiences as for queer audiences, Kimberly Dark argues against the reign of duality in American culture. Yes, the "gender freakout" can be humorous - and tragic, but above all, instructive as we work to create richer, fuller lives and more inclusive social systems.
If there's not already a vibrant poetry slam community in your city, take the opportunity to sample the event
during Kimberly's visit. In addition to performing her own work, she can also emcee a poetry slam or evening
of performance poetry for your community or campus. The event can include a preparatory workshop if you
choose, or have a specific focus (women's lives, queer issues, disability, etc.). This type of event
allows for locals to be exposed to and learn the skills of performance/slam poetry so that they can
create future events. And, with issue-specific slams, locals have the opportunity to be the performers
of their own lives, while providing an entertaining and thought-provoking event for a broader audience.
For more information on the phenomenon of slam poetry, check out the national website poetryslam.com.
To discuss how this event would work at your particular venue, send an email to info@kimberlydark.com.
The Butch/Femme Chronicles... (Now available as a script for ensemble production!)
Kimberly Dark toured The Butch/Femme Chronicles: Discussions With Women Who Are Not Like Me (and Some Who Are) between 1998 and 2002. She last performed the show in Dublin in 2004 and thought, how lovely; and I am finished.
Stripped and Teased: Scandalous Stories with Subversive Subplots
Kimberly Dark performed this award-winning show between 2005 and 2010; it
is currently no longer available. The good news is that the themes
covered here are still active in Kimberly's work. Please take a look at
Becoming the Subject of Your Own Story or Complicated Courtesies -- or let
us know what you're looking for specifically. Gender and gender roles are
still being complicated here -- we're glad you enjoyed Stripped and
Teased!
expand | collapse | video
Come explore
how to become a courteous chimera – the kind of multi-faceted,
fantastical creature that has many fearsome and fantastic features and
yet, remains friendly to all. Who knows, if we learn to embrace our
inner diversity – maybe loving the diversity in others won’t be so hard…
She delves into very serious realities, but as always, with a sense of joy and
sensuality. - Puna News (Puna,
Hawaii)
Kimberly Dark has an uncanny way of making you think hard when you
think you are only being entertained. Her keen insights seep into
your questioning mind as you laugh, are captivated by stories, and are
wowed by the intimacy she creates with her to-the-bone honesty. This
piece weaves together politeness in all its gendered majesty, how to
live with fullness and integrity, facing our own many "faces", and
healing ourselves and others with the power of dignity. Never stuffy
or preachy, this material can sneak up on you in unexpected ways,
putting a new spin on old and everyday occurrences. Best of all, I
recommend this one-woman show for students, where theater and story-
telling far outpace lectures and PowerPoints to bring education alive
and send us each on our next step toward growth and transformation. -
Dr. Carol Plummer, University of Hawaii, School of Social Work
Complicated Courtesies makes people think about their life choices in
a bigger way -- to feel more powerful about their choices. Especially
at college-age, people need to hear the message of this show! -
Michele Newman, Women's Center Director, University of Hawaii at Hilo
Read more about Complicated Courtesies in the Big
Island Weekly!
expand | collapse | video
This is a performance for everyone who has gender – examined or not. In Dykeotomy,
Dark narrates a tale of modern gender confusion – this time from the perspective of the
gender-normative female lover. What does sexual orientation mean when gender shifts?
What did it ever mean in the context of masculine lives in female-sexed bodies? Dark’s
hilarious interactions with the audience regarding her confusion with dating are interspersed
with her signature poetic stories -- tightly crafted, highly moving social snapshots.
Dykeotomy was an Intercultural Dialogue Award finalist at the 2010 International Dublin
Gay Theatre Festival! Curve Magazine names Dykeotomy one of the top 10 LGBT theater productions of 2009!
expand | collapse | video (just 1 of
46 possible "cards" in the performance "deck")
Forty-six art images form a 'tarot deck' from which the audience chooses the show. Each image
corresponds with a provocative poem or single story from Dark's 15 year repertoire in performance and print.
Depending on what's chosen, the audience may hear stories from Dark's new work, currently touring shows,
or performances that have been retired. The cards' selection, arrangement, and impromptu interpretation
ensure that every show is unique.
The beautiful, art-based 'tarot deck' consists of the 'suits' most common in Dark’s
work: Love, Sex, Politics, and Power. The trump suit is The All.
Imagine a performance that is as spontaneous and individualized as a tarot card reading.
Imagine the audience's "Good Fortune"!
Interactive Lectures
expand | collapse | video
"Kimberly Dark, through her work, creates, or encourages the creation
of, spaces where women’s lived experiences are valued...
I want my daughter’s teachers, and every child’s teachers, to think
about who they are as educators, to think about what kind of educators
they want to be. Kimberly Dark helps with that process of thinking
through identity, and about how our choices affect others."
- The Kings County Register (Nova
Scotia, Canada)
"The audience seemed to relate to Dark's stories with enthusiastic
laughter and inspired statements. Dark incorporated the crowd's
comments and questions during the performance itself and during the
question and answer period... Kimberly’s performative social science
work is engaging and educative. She creates spaces for conversations
to happen..."
-The Athenaeum (Nova Scotia, Canada)
expand | collapse
Dark leads participants through exercises to help them understand their own wealth, how it is influenced by the privilege of birth and circumstances and how those who lack wealth may not be as personally deficient as some believe. The content of this lecture is applicable to each person who uses money - and participants will leave with the tools for making connections with others to work toward a more just economy.
expand | collapse | video
Retired Performances
expand | collapse
But folks keep asking for the show. So, in December 2006, she adapted the script for ensemble production. The show is written as poetry - a series of separate vignettes about lesbian lives - the subtle ways in which lesbians who don't necessarily identify with the terms "butch" and "femme" recreate gender in our every day lives. The show is funny, moving, sad and exciting - and now you can produce it yourself!
The script allows for an expandable number of players, much as the vignettes of The Vagina Monologues are performed. Please email info@kimberlydark.com to request the script for review. The first ensemble performance was produced by the women of Ohio Wesleyan University in March 2007...
And here's some of the press about the show during the time Kimberly was performing it!
+ Butch/Femme pushes today's stereotypes (The Rocky Mountain Collegian, February 12, 1999)
+ Dark Sheds Light on Indentity Issues in 'Butch-Femme Chronicles'
(Gay & Lesbian Times, December 11, 1997)
expand | collapse | video
"Dark's Stripped and Teased is a wild romp through the issues of gender (in)equity and of
(un)fettered sexuality, body image and the social construction of gender, and the economics of
being female. Using women who work as strippers as a unifying theme throughout the show, Dark
brilliantly illuminates how stereotypical views of femininity are not just ridiculous, but
ultimately harmful to us all."
-Hawaii Island Journal
Reviews:
+ Cabaret show Strips away gender stereotypes (The Berkeley Beacon, April 3, 2008)
+ kimberly dark: stripped and teased (nouveau*queer, September 30, 2006)
+ Excerpted from the review and interview of a double bill show including Kimberly Dark's Stripped and Teased and Jennifer Lanier's None of the Above (Hawaii Island Journal, December 1, 2005)