Highways turns 17

Highways' 17th Birthday. Highways Performance Space. 8/19/06.

For Highways' 17th Birthday, performance artists Luis Alfaro and Holly Hughes performed as a benefit to raise money for Highways' future.

First of all, I'd like to take a moment to offer a reflection on Highways on the occasion of its birthday. I believe it's the space at which I've seen the most shows since I moved to LA. With every new season, there are at least one or two shows that I feel that I must see, and a few more that I wish I could see, time and money permitting. Curated group shows have introduced me to several wonderful new performers and I value to no end the opportunities I've had to see amazing established artists like Tim Miller. I'm very grateful for the work Highways has done to foster performance in LA. While, as an underemployed grad student worried about where my next rent check is coming from, I was unable to offer a donation, I highly encourage anyone who can to become a Highways member.

Now for the performances. First of all, despite their lack of websites, which I find highly irritating, both Luis Alfaro and Holly Hughes are amazing and well-established performance artists. They both have excellent control of their voices and narrative and can mesmerize an audience with a simple story.

Luis Alfaro performed a piece entitled "The Night Minnie Riperton Saved My Life," which I believe consisted of excerpts from some of his previous works. I'd never seen Alfaro perform, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Alfaro's performance persona was sweet and engaging, with a suprisingly high voice wonderfully appropriate for communicating the stories from his childhood and teenage years that were featured in this piece. Somehow he managed both wide-eyed innocence and sounding worldly and tough at the same time. I felt like Alfaro was everyone's favorite gay uncle, with fabulous stories to tell and a really approachable mein. He has fabulous storytelling skills, and every scenario he set up was clear and compellling, to the point that the audience gasped in horror along with characters in the story at the appropriate moments. The most disturbing and impressive piece of his performance was one in which he related his first experience having sex with a woman, describing the bachelor party atmosphere and astounding the audience by taking shots of tequila at relevant moments of the story. He took MANY shots of tequila, so many that personally I was concerned for him, but he managed to keep going and tell the story, and it was obvious how the shots were not merely a stunt, but relevant to the emotional impact of his performance and a reflection of the youth and culture he was portraying.

Personally, I was there mostly to see Holly Hughes. I have wanted to see her perform ever since I stumbled across someone else's copy of this book in college. I was mesmerized by the provokative title and the naked lesbian on the cover, and I was soon drawn inside and fell in love with the wacky, campy plays that I've always wanted to see performed. Hughes did not disappoint, though she performed mostly without props or costumes. She performed excerpts from a new work, "Dog and Pony Show," which somehow made dog training interesting and sexy and a clever metaphor for life rather than the everyday reality of a middle-aged lesbian. Hughes began the piece discussing coming and it was slowly revealed that she was talking about her dog rather than her girlfriend. Somehow, that revelation wasn't as big of a laugh line or a turning point as it should have been in this performance, but throughout the piece the discussion of the 'come' command maintained it's two meanings in an interesting and insightful manner. Hughes also performed excerpts of her piece "Preaching to the Perverted," which I think needs to be published somewhere ASAP. I'd love to teach it to my students - it's a beautiful and hilarious exploration of the NEA 4 situation and their trip to the Supreme Court, which she describes in terms of site-specific performance art. It's an important piece. I saw her do the whole thing here in LA a few years ago, and I think everyone should be given a chance to read it. I was glad to see parts of it again, but when she does the whole thing with props and costumes and everything, it's even better. Overall, Hughes was just as funny and clever and fun to watch as I expected her to be, and I wish I had more opportunities to see her perform. Highways or someone really should bring her (and more of the fabulous queer performance art luminaries from out of town) out to perform more.

The fascinating thing about this event was that there were several members of audience who were as famous (at least in queer performance art circles) as the performers. I was completely starstruck to see Tim Miller and John Fleck, LA's half of the NEA 4, and both fabulous performance artists in their own rights. I even got to talk to them! *swoon* Phranc, phabulous lesbian pholksinger and artist (who once dated Holly Hughes) was in the audience. UCLA Professor Lucy Burns was there, as were several members of the Highways board. After the show, there was a fabulous cake from Cake Divas. Overall, the event was truly amazing. The opportunity to see Hughes and Alfaro is rare enough that I feel very fortunate that I was able to attend.