Calling all loners! Stewart Legere and Lee-Anne Poole are holding an event this Saturday at the Plutonium Playhouse (doors at 8, show at 9, $10/$15 sliding scale) with you in mind. Dubbed Self Service, the evening features music, poetry, burlesque, drag, theatre and dance performances by Tiny and Hunchy, Rouge Fatale, Tanya Davis, Krista Davis, Ria Mae, Margot Durling, Megan MacDowell, Sara Saddington, Nolan Natasha Pike, Leigh James Brown, Stephanie MacDonald, Stewart Legere and more. There will also be a silent auction with items they allege are “perfect for going at it alone.” Why are all the one-man/woman wolf packs getting all the love? For your entertainment, for one thing. And, in addition, the proceeds from the event will support Legere’s new solo show El Camino or the Field of Stars, premiering this summer at Halifax Pride’s Queer Acts Theatre Festival in Halifax.
“The show is about a young gay man who is obsessed with the Camino—an ancient pilgrimage across France and Spain that mirrors the path of the Milky Way,” says Legere. “You learn a lot about his past, his failed relationships, neuroses, fears and all of that. He is funny and self-deprecating and brutal at times, but it’s all in an attempt to get to the truth.”
Legere is a big proponent of truth in theatre and he feels that connecting intimately with an audience keeps him honest. “As a performer, I love looking into an audience member’s eyes” he says. “The closer they are to me the better. I feel like somehow if I’m looking at real people right in their eyes while I perform, it doesn’t allow me to lie.”
Sometimes simply looking at oneself can ignite the same desire to be truthful, which is where El Camino and Self Service came from. “As queer artists obviously the idea of identity and self-awareness and discovery play big roles in our work. Celebrating the self is not a negatively selfish act—it is a noble act,” says Legere. “Looking in the mirror is hard but talking about what you see is harder, and funnier and sadder. Self Service is a celebration of that. Plus the title is vaguely sexual; and the world runs on innuendo.”
And—let’s face it—at the end of the day, even if we are going solo, we just wanna have fun. Saturday’s event promises the variety to facilitate you goin’ ham. “Throw a whole bunch of artists and performers from different arenas on a stage together, invite a whole bunch of people, and when it’s over turn the music up,” says Legere. “It’s the kind of show I want to go to.”
This article appears in Jun 23-29, 2011.
I am glad (I think) that the solo show is not about the Chevrolet El Camino.