EARL DAX THOUGHT he was through with the HOT! Festival. After helming the annual queer theater event in 2006, the ubiquitous Downtown culture guru had moved on to events like Weimar New York and Tingle Tangle, plus a seemingly endless amount of globetrotting—in the last few weeks, he jetted from the U.K. back to New York then to San Francisco for various projects. But beginning July 1, Dax is back behind the HOT! wheel, acting as festival director for the 18th year of the HOT! Festival, and bringing dozens of theatrical, musical, film and literary performances to Lower Manhattan over the next month.
“Ostensibly, I’m responsible for the overall direction of the festival,” Dax says. “In practice, my job entails everything from web development and design to curating and programming.” And program he has. Among Dax’s cherry-picked choices are a one-night only double bill of plays from The Big Gay Sketch Show’s Colman Domingo and openly gay pop singer Ari Gold; Mommie Queerest, the new one-woman show from Judy Gold (25 Questions for a Jewish Mother); and Big Art Group with fellow Downtown stalwart Justin Bond.
“We had an open call for submissions,” Dax says, “and I invited submissions from artists I’ve worked with, and went out to see a lot of performances. Honestly, I’d rather see 10 live shows than watch one crappy DVD submission. Ultimately, I’m dealing with live performance, and it’s very hard to apprehend what happens in a live context through submissions.”
But the centerpiece of the festival is Penny Arcade’s Old Queen, opening July 9—not only because it marks the legend’s return to a full production on a New York stage for the first time in over five years. Her show is a loving tribute to titular homosexuals, a type that has fallen into public disdain over the last few years, as queer eyes made-over straight guys and Will eschewed dating to hang out with Grace.
A tour through the history of late 20thcentury gay NYC led by the wittiest docent imaginable, Old Queen examines the men Arcade met when she first arrived in the City as a teenager in the 1960s. Seeking out the conversation she describes as “existential nectar,” she quickly made friends with still celebrated or unjustly forgotten gay icons like John Vaccaro,Taylor Mead and Andy Warhol. First workshopped as a wholly improvised exercise in the 2006 HOT! Fest, Old Queen is finally ready for its close-up.
“This production is the first work in progress,” says Arcade, who cut her teeth performing as part of The Playhouse of the Ridiculous and Andy Warhol films. “Earl’s request for me to participate [in HOT! Fest] created the space for Old Queen to emerge. I hadn’t thought of it before. It came to my mind because of the invitation.”
She adds, “Earl is what people of my generation refer to as a ‘throwback.’ A gay man who could have existed in the ‘60s, when many gay men were politically progressive and thought outside what would become the ‘gay community roach motel ghetto.’ He’s a culture communicator, the world’s biggest fan, and a tireless worker for events, people and causes he espouses.”
And Arcade isn’t the only Downtown treasure that Dax is showing off. Indeed, the venue for many of the shows will be at the fancy Chrystie Street digs of experimental theater mainstay Dixon Place, originator of the HOT! Festival. Dixon Place’s new home, in fact, was what encouraged Dax to become involved with the festival once again. “I approached Ellie Covan [Dixon Place founder and director] in December,” he admits. “When I saw the new space, I was excited by the possibilities opened up for this year’s festival.”
Dixon Place’s director of marketing,Tim Ranney, feels the same way. “We’ve had a six month coming out period during our soft opening, and we’re so proud of the new space!” Ranney says. “The new Dixon Place took about six years and nearly $6 million to build.We’re waiting on a few odds and ends and the official opening and dedication won’t take place until fall, but we’ve tricked out the main stage theater with the most technical equipment of any downtown small theater, and the lounge has its own tech booth and lighting rig for smaller shows.”
Despite the brand new location, though, this is the fest’s first year to embrace other venues as well. “We wanted this to truly be a festival,” Ranney explains. “In the sense that we reach out and work with other cultural institutions and venues such as New Museum and Joe’s Pub, so that we have a lot going on and something for everybody.We wanted it to be more festival-y—although if you just come to Dixon Place, there’s something happening 24/7, practically.”
Still, just because the new Dixon Place has actual chairs and climate control (something the previous space lacked, inspiring the fest’s name) that doesn’t mean the old bohemian atmosphere has gone the way of the space’s battered sofas. HOT! will still offer audiences the chance both to witness the birth of new works and to see old pros like Penny Arcade alongside up-andcomers like the young multi-hyphenate performance artist Max Steele. Dax has a firm grasp of such juxtapositions’ benefits to performers whose work may not be “mainstream” enough for a commercial run. As Arcade adamantly says, “HOT! Fest is the only institution in which the only criterion for inclusion is that you’re making new work, unlike the careerism that drives almost every other theatrical institution in New York today. That access makes Dixon Place and HOT! Fest invaluable.”
Dax sees it a little more simply, though. “I’m really excited about the sense of community that’s affirmed and celebrated through the presentation of so many different queer artists,” he says. Queens of any age will surely agree with that.
> HOT! Festival
July 1 through Aug. 6. For a full schedule and tickets, visit www.hotfestival.org.
Sinibaldi
