Body Politics at The VORTEX

The VORTEX presents the regional premiere of BODY POLITICS by Shasparay. This show is a personal revelation of award-winning Shasparay’s experiences as a fat woman navigating issues of shame, bullying, health, love, and fetishization in a fatphobic world. Using an interdisciplinary approach including comedy, poetry, dance, and theater, BODY POLITICS speaks to the nuanced nature of the so-called "fat experience". For Shasparay, this journey has been funny, deep, sexy, disappointing, and beautiful, and it could not be told using just one form of creative expression. Previously performed in the Midwest and Canada, Shasparay is excited to bring her show to her hometown. The audience is invited to bring their authentic selves and discover empathy, awareness, and shared experience through the lens of BODY POLITICS.

Mark H., the director of BODY POLITICS describes the show as –

“ a Bag Lady…in the Erykah Badu sense. A woman alone in the public gaze unpacking, sifting through and confronting her baggage; a woman spilling, exposing and reconfiguring (repacking?) its contents in preparation for the journey.

Towards self-acceptance.

Towards healing.”