๐ฃ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ฏ๐ถ๐น๐น: ๐๐ฐ๐ ๐๐ซ: ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐บ๐ฒ๐น๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ
๐๐๐ป๐ฒ ๐ด, ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฐ, ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ด๐ฝ๐บ
๐ง๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ผ ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ, ๐๐บ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐บ
Featuring a musical tribute to Big Mama Thornton, performed by Pamela Sneed, Mara Rosenbloom, Michael Vatcher and Jasper Stadhouders
New-York based poet, performer and visual artist Pamela Sneedโs genre-defying work is rooted in her commitment to activism and intersectional modes of thinking, from the 1990s AIDS crisis to the Black lesbian working class experience. An example of this is her most recent and widely celebrated book, ๐๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ช๐ท๐ข (2020)โa poetic memoir about coming-of-age in the AIDS era, and its effects on life and art.
Often working from an autobiographical impulse, Sneedโs contribution to ACT IX is no different. For the occasion, she brings her recently developed performance project ๐ ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ช๐จ ๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ข ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ to Amsterdam for the first time. Premiering in New York at the beginning of 2023 and brought to life in the style of a juke jointโa term within African American vernacular to refer to an establishment featuring music, dancing and drinkingโ๐ ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ช๐จ ๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ข ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ honours singer and songwriter Big Mama Thornton. Until her recent induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2024, Big Mama Thornton was an unsung pioneer of rock and roll known for her gender-expansive style. Through bringing her hits to life on stage, Sneed locates the legacy of Big Mama Thornton within the queer canon through an examination of her presence as a Black and transgender performer. In a prose poem-cum-newsletter for the Poetry Project in 2020, Sneed writes:
โLike Big Mama Thornton, I too was raised in the church. My grandfather was a baptist preacher. My grandmother sang spirituals. I credit the Black church for my love and introduction to poetry, the music and art I was surrounded by, and through the lyricism of preachers and womenโs testimonies I learned poetry. Through this upbringing I identified with Big Mama Thornton and how she came to music.โ
Sneed will be joined on stage at Torpedo Theater by Mara Rosenbloom on keys, Michael Vatcher on drums and Jasper Stadhouders on guitar. For the evening, Torpedo Theater will open its doors under the name of Juke Joint, and its stage will be dedicated to the coalescence of voices raring to be heardโones joyously singing their refusal to adhere to what could be understood as normative femininity.
Note: This event is a standing gig, though seating is available on request at the theatre if needed.
๐๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต-๐ฃ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ถ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ- ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฆ๐น๐ต-๐ฃ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ค ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ (๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ) ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐จ๐ฆ. ๐๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข ๐๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ด๐ข๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐๐ข๐ถ๐ฅ ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ. ๐๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ: ๐๐ค๐ต ๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ฎ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฎ๐ด ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ท๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐๐ถ๐ฏ๐ด๐ต, ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ ๐๐ฎ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฎ ๐๐ต๐ข๐ฅ๐ด๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ฎ.
