Just in case you think we’re gettin’ a little too artsy fartsy around here, we’re going to plug (heh-heh) the upcoming show Peg-Ass-Us. Never seen it, know nothing about it, but dang ya gotta give these kids credit for pure pervy-ness!

Peg-Ass-Us

Performed and Created by John Leo & Sophie Nimmannit

A Production of Pack of Others

Dates: July 10th, 11th & 12th at 8 PM

Location: HOT! Festival at Dixon Place, 258 Bowery, NYC

Tickets: $15 ($12 student/senior)

(212) 219-0736 or dixonplace.org

Peg–Ass–Us: Queer Sex For Straight People?

Peg–Ass–Us is a theatrical burlesque all about “pegging,” the sexual act where a woman wearing a strap-on dildo penetrates a man’s anus. A charming duo, Sophie and John (portrayed by co-creators and real-life couple Sophie Nimmannit and John Leo) set out to spread the word about the pleasures of prostate stimulation and strap-on sex. Their headlong dive starts with the facts, but once in the deep end, their personal differences play tug-of-war with the lesson plan, pulling sex from silly to serious, between kink and dignity, and wrangling over issues of gender, sexual identity and personal desires. Armed with original songs (accompanied by banjo-uke and glockenspiel), dance, puppetry, drag, physical comedy and audience participation, the two lovers turn their bedroom and hearts inside out for the world to see. And take off their clothes.

The term “pegging” was coined in 2001 when Dan Savage, author of the popular sex advice column “Savage Love,” found that he was receiving a sufficient number of questions on this subject to warrant finding a name for it, and held a reader-based competition. The subject was recently featured in the Village Voice article “Pegging Goes Big: Straight Men Get It In the End” (June 17, 2008.)

Peg–Ass–Us is part of the HOT! Festival, Dixon Place’s 17th Annual Celebration of Queer Culture. The show premiered at the 2008 Montreal Fringe Festival in June and the fringe website buzzed with audience enthusiasm: “Kind of like the sex ed you wish you’d had in high school!” “Hilarious, totally shameless in a good way.” “An awesome exploration of how it feels to prefer sexual activities that are perceived to be outside of the norm.” In September, the show will travel to the San Francisco Fringe Festival, where it will be hosted by the Center for Sex and Culture (directed by Dr. Carol Queen, who starred in the “wildly successful” 1998 film Bend Over Boyfriend.) Pack of Others’ first show FLUID, a personal exploration of “bisexuality,” by founding member Erika Kate MacDonald, toured to Minneapolis, Boulder, NYC, and Portland last year.

John Leo studied dance at Bard College and is a graduate of the Dell ‘Arte School of Physical Theatre. For seven years (2001-2007) he lived in Juneau, Alaska performing/creating with Perseverance Theatre, Kitschy Yum-Yum Burlesque and Wild Rumpus Clown Theatre (Best of San Francisco Fringe 2003). Mr. Leo has toured his solo clown work throughout Mexico, Canada and the ‘Lower 48’ and has received funding from the Alaska State Council on the Arts and the Rasmuson Foundation. Mr. Leo is currently a member of the Big Apple Circus Clown Care Unit, as a Pediatric Clown in NYC area hospitals.

Sophie Nimmannit received her BA in theater at Yale, and has trained in mask, clown, Suzuki and other forms of physical theater. She has toured with the International Theatre Collective (St. Louis), the LIDA Project (Denver) and with Pack of Others’ show FLUID. She performs in NYC as campaign manager Red Genie for VOTE DEBS in ’08, a theatrical presidential campaign alternative, and as a member of the South Wing (AOI!, The Gospel According to Jack Vitrolo) and East Third Ensemble.