Sara Juli Returns with One-Woman Show TENSE VAGINA

Skidmore College and the University at Albany have joined forces to bring Skidmore alum Sara Juli back to the Capital Region for performances of her one-woman show, Tense Vagina: an actual diagnosis, a comedic movement/theatre work about motherhood and bladder control. Juli will appear at Skidmore's JKB Theater on Saturday, February 3 at 8pm and then will perform at the UAlbany Performing Arts Center on both Monday and Tuesday, February 5 & 6 at 7:30pm. Both engagements are made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Created by Juli with an original set by Pamela Moulton, costume by Carol Farrell and original lighting by Justin Moriarty, Tense Vagina is about the beauty, challenges, isolation and comedy of motherhood. The evening- length solo uses humor, movement, sounds, songs, text and audience participation to reveal, according to Juli, "all that is awesome and all that sucks" when it comes to being a mom as well as focusing on its seldom- discussed and taboo aspects such as loss of bladder control, tears, monotony, loneliness and dildos. The narrative is anchored in the physical therapy Juli received at The Pelvic Floor Rehab Center of New England for treatment of post-childbirth urinary incontinence.

BROADWAY BABY called Tense Vagina "an imaginative and brave show performed with fearless vulnerability by the warm, wild and untamed Sara Juli" while THE NEW YORKER compared it to a "standup routine performed in a supine position while doing Kegel exercises." THE PORTLAND PRESS HERALD claimed "she had the audience laughing out loud as she lay bare her personal secrets."

Tense Vagina premiered in October 2015 in Portland, Maine and has since been presented by The Chocolate Factory Theater in New York City, The Dance Complex in Boston and American Dance Festival in Durham, NC, among others. The show had its international debut in August 2017 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with a

total of 22 performances. In addition to Skidmore and UAlbany, Juli will tour the work to eight other venues in the spring of 2018 including Connecticut and Bowdoin Colleges, Skirball Center in Los Angeles, FlynnSpace in Burlington and The O'Shaughnessey in St. Paul.

Juli is a graduate of Skidmore College with degrees in Dance and Anthropology who has been creating and performing innovative performance work since 2000. Her performances have taken place in numerous New York City venues including Performance Space 122, The Chocolate Factory Theater, New York Live Arts, Danspace Project, Movement Research at Judson Church, 92nd St. Y, Ontological-Hysteric Theater, Joe's Pub, Joyce Soho, Bushwick Starr, and Dixon Place, among others. Nationally, her work has been performed at the American Dance Festival, Bates Dance Festival, Napa Valley Opera House, UC Riverside, Artown Reno, SPACE Gallery, 3S Artspace, The Dance Complex, TEDxDirigo, and numerous others. In her first full-evening solo show, The Money Conversation, she gave away her life savings ($5,000 in cash) in a sold-out run at Performance Space 122 in NYC. The show was an instant hit and toured nationally and internationally from 2007 to 2012 to sold-out houses in the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, London, Russia, and around the United States.

Juli will be in the Capital Region from January 31 to February 7. In addition to the performances, she will also offer master classes and workshops with students at Skidmore and UAlbany.

Tickets for the Skidmore performance go on sale on January 15 and are $12 for the general public and $8 for students and seniors. A special rate of $5 is also being offered for students groups of 10 or more. The JKB Theatre's box office can be reached by calling 518-580-5439 or emailing boxoffice@skidmore.edu. The performance is jointly sponsored by the Departments of Dance, Theater, Gender Studies, Arts Administration, Social Work, Sociology and American Studies.

Tickets for the UAlbany performances are on sale now and, when purchased in advance, are $15 for the general public and $10 for students, seniors and UAlbany faculty/staff. Tickets purchased on the day of the show (pending availability) are $20 for the general public and $15 for students, seniors and UAlbany faculty/staff. The UAlbany Performing Arts Center's box office can be reached by calling 518-442-3997 or emailing tickets@albany.edu. The UAlbany performances are presented as part of the Performing Arts Center's Prime Performance series with support provided by the University at Albany Foundation, Office of Intercultural Student Engagement and University Auxiliary Services. They are part of the 35th anniversary of Sexuality Month with funding from Middle Earth Peer Assistance Program and Counseling & Psychological Services.