A Performance About Male Body Image
by Alan Reade
Photo by Liliana Rodriguez, 2001.
Tour Dates
Summer 1999: Commissioned by the Jon Sims Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
March 11,2000: Appearance in "Bear Icons: Art + Artifacts of Queer Masculinity," sponsored by the Bear History Project, Mount Ida College, Boston, MA
June 2001: National Queer Arts Festival "Best of AIRspace" series, San
Francisco, CA
February 17, 2002: Excerpt at LitBEARary
Salon, part of IBR, San Francisco, CA
April 11, 2002: Zeitgeist
Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA
May 25, 2002: Reading
at Fetish Nite, Body Perve
Social Club, Vancouver, B.C.
July 18, 2002: Club Fab, Guerneville,
CA
July 19, 2002: Appearance in Viva Variety
26, Club Fab, Guerneville, CA
Synopsis
From an obese and isolated
19-year-old stuck in the suburbs to an out-and-proud "Bear"-ish lothario,
Reade takes on the conventions about gay men and body image by humanizing his
characters and giving voice to an under-recognized segment of gay culture.
Bear-A-Go-Go! pulls no punches as it reveals how one subculture
marginalizes another through body fascism. Funny, playful, and touching, the
show features furry go-go dancers lap-dancing for the audiences during Alan's
costume changes and concludes with the stirring poem "Holiday at the
Baths".
Written
Excerpts
From the character "Leon":
So I finally get my coffee, and I look above the counter, and what
do I see? A symbol of gay pride! Yeah, in poster form. You want to know what
that symbol is? Okay, I'll tell you! It's four twinkies lifting up a rainbow
flag. Yeah, that's right. Four twinkies. That's my symbol of "pride." And I
thought, "IF YOU'RE SO FUCKING STRONG, WHY DOES IT TAKE FOUR OF YOU TO LIFT
A FUCKING FLAG?!"
From the character
"Mamabear":
Tonight, I want to tell you about the second "Bear-In." Now, some
of you already know about this event and were there last year--yes, I see
you, dear!--but for those of you who don't, this is an event where we demand
sexual visibility for big boys in a public way. Who says thinnies should be
having all the fun--and all the press--for public sex?! Last year's Bear-In
went really well. We all showed up at the park nearly nude, and then spread
out and demanded sexual visibility, out there in the bushes there. And some
people got more visibility than they thought--in the form of a police
record--when the cops showed up. But I say it's all worth it, for bear
pride! Isn't an eensy-weensy police record a low price to pay for complete
sexual freedom?
Biography
Alan Reade is a writer and
performance artist whose work examines how body image, language, and mass
media are internalized. Alan's work has appeared all over the United States and Canada, and his spoken-word CD, "4 Seasons in a Day,"
was released in the spring of 2002 on Pop Squared Records. You can find a selected history of Alan's past
performances here.
Performance History
CD
Release
Video Stills From
Performances
Home
For more information about Alan
Reade's work, click here to e-mail
him.
© Alan Reade, 2011