ADMISSION:
Admission is free. Reservations required. RSVP beginning Monday, August 14, at 9 a.m.

USC Students, Staff, and Faculty: RSVP
USC Alumni: RSVP
General Public: RSVP

DESCRIPTION:
Two iconic artists visit USC for a special evening of queer performance, a form that has defied norms from 1980s multiculturalism, through the 1990s culture wars, to the visibility of the 21st century. Marga Gomez is a San Francisco–based Latina stand-up comic and solo performer. She was one of the nation’s first out lesbian performers and a founding member of the groundbreaking theatre collective Culture Clash. Tim Miller has written and performed more than a dozen solo works and was one of the “NEA Four”—four artists who were denied NEA funding in 1990 because their work failed to pass “decency” guidelines. Marga Gomez and Tim Miller will perform selections of their work followed by a discussion with USC professors David Román and Luis Alfaro exploring over four decades of queer identities and culture.

About the Artists:

Marga Gomez is an award-winning writer and performer of twelve solo plays that have been presented nationally and internationally. She was an original member of the legendary Latinx ensemble Culture Clash. Selections from her work have been published in anthologies, including Extreme Exposure, HOWL, and Contemporary Plays by American Women of Color. She is also a stand-up comedian and appeared on HBO’s Comic Relief at the invitation of Robin Williams, who called her “Amazing . . . a lesbian Lenny Bruce.” (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter)

Tim Miller is an internationally acclaimed performance artist whose work explores the artistic, spiritual, and political topography of his identity as a gay man. He is a co-founder of PS 122 on Manhattan's Lower East Side and Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica. In 1990, Miller was awarded a Solo Performer Fellowship from the NEA, which was overturned under political pressure from the Bush White House because of the gay themes of Miller’s work. Miller and three other artists, known as the “NEA Four,” successfully sued the federal government with the help of the ACLU for violation of their First Amendment rights. (Facebook)

Presented by USC Visions and Voices: The Arts and Humanities Initiative. Organized by Luis Alfaro (Dramatic Arts) and David Román (English and American Studies and Ethnicity). Co-sponsored by El Centro Chicano.

Photo (Marga Gomez): Ian Douglas/New York Times