SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Performer and theatre artist Leigh Hendrix will visit Wofford College’s campus on Tuesday, Sept. 9, conducting a master class for students in an experimental living-and-learning community called “Theatre of Justice” that will explore such issues as race, gender, sexuality and power.
Hendrix also will perform her acclaimed work “How to be a Lesbian in 10 Days or Less” that evening at 7 in Leonard Auditorium in Main Building, followed by a panel discussion on politicized performance and academic and artistic freedom. It is free and open to the public.
“We are very excited to have Ms. Hendrix visiting Wofford,” says Mark Ferguson, associate professor and chair of the Department of Theatre. “In our living-and-learning community, we will be engaging with dramatic texts and performances that address issues of race, gender, sexuality, economics and power both in and out of the classroom. Leigh’s funny and provocative piece fits perfectly into that context and it’s a great example of how we bring the world to Wofford for our students. I’m also really looking forward to the master class, which will offer participants the opportunity to develop and perform their own stories.” Theatre majors and other interested students and faculty members also will attend the class.
“How to be a Lesbian in 10 Days or Less” has been called “a hilarious coming out story for queers and non-queers alike. Motivational speaker and expert lesbian Butchy McDyke deftly guides her captive audience in an exploration of self-discovery and first love, coming out, lesbian sex, queer politics, and a really important Reba McEntire song as they learn to confidently shout, ‘I’m a big ‘ol’ dyke!’”
Hendrix’s evening performance will be followed by a panel discussion about academic and artistic freedom. The panel will include faculty from Wofford, the University of South Carolina Upstate and elsewhere.
Hendrix, a performer and theatre artist based in Brooklyn, N.Y., has danced with DoubleShift Dance Theatre in Providence, R.I., and Boston-based choreographer Wanda Strukus. Hendrix created the role of Sadie in Kit Idazak’s “The Golden Lasso” at Perishable Theatre’s 15th Annual Women’s Playwriting Festival and collaborated on Annie H. Kee’s new work, “The Iphigenia Project,” in the role of Clytemnestra at Emerson College in Boston. Hendrix also has played Matt Damon in Theatre of Thought’s site specific performances of Matt and Ben in apartments across Rhode Island.
Her solo performance work, “How to be a Lesbian in 10 Days or Less,” was developed at Emerson College and as a resident artist at Providence’s Perishable Theatre. The piece had its regional premier in the Berkshires as part of WAM Theatre’s Oh Solo Mama Mia Festival in May 2011 and has been seen at the New Orleans Fringe Festival, United Solo Festival, Mary’s Attic in Chicago, 95 Empire in Providence, Coastal Carolina University, and Bloomsburg Theater Ensemble.
Hendrix trained with the SITI Company’s inaugural conservatory class and received her master’s degree in theatre education at Emerson College. She has worked as a teaching artist with the Gamm Theatre, the Manton Avenue Project and Riverside Theatre Works.