Award-Winning International Trans Non-binary Fringe Performer Brings Two Bold Solo Story-telling Shows About Diversity, Belonging, And Resilience

The award-winning international touring writer/performer, Ren Lunicke, brings two of their highly entertaining, thought-provoking autobiographical works about identity and belonging to Los Angeles for the first time as part of a West Coast 'Belonging Tour' stretching from Victoria, BC to San Diego, CA. Performing a limited engagement September 15th and 16th at Stephanie Feury Studio Theatre 5636 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038.

The double-bill includes BLOOD RELATIVE, a wry dramatic work about love, loss, the limits and power of biological kinship, and the potential to build family beyond all expectations. Performances are September 15 at 7:00 pm and September 16 at 5:00 pm.

Second show is "ZE:" queer as f*ck! a late-night dark comedy about the sex, gender, and one queer's parade of labels and identities on their way to pride. Performances are September 15 at 9:00 pm and September 16 at 7:00 pm.

Tickets: $15 for a single show; $25 double show

Students and seniors discount $5 per show or $10 for both shows

Box Office: https://zequeerasfuck.brownpapertickets.com/

https://bloodrelative.brownpapertickets.com/

New Zealand-based Ren Lunicke is Washington State born, Canadian trained, and New Zealand based. They have toured shows in various cities in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand that present a culturally diverse future that has won them critical acclaim.

Blood relative

re-defining family drama: 'blood relative' confronts the limitations of biological kinship, and the potential to create reliable loving bonds.

"Family will always be there." Is this a blessing, a curse, or an impossible promise? It may depend on you.

In their play BLOOD RELATIVE, Ren ruthlessly exposes the mythology about biological family connection and the swing in all-or-nothing relationships when they disappoint. In this dramatic and wry re-telling, Ren narrates and enters into scenes from their former life as "Michelle," a newly married lesbian caught between the modern ideals of a diverse and loving chosen family, the normative assertion of a nuclear family, and the ongoing call to connect with ancestors.

While evaluating a painful fertility disease and the possibility of any future children, Michelle receives the call from her right-wing American evangelical mother, that Michelle's loving grandmother is dying. In the overlapping time between care-taking the last of one generation and facing the limitations surrounding any future generations, Michelle must decide which definition of family she can depend upon to create family for herself.

Ren looks back with humour and wit to connect, mourn, and remember the individual power we all have to ensure that "family will always be there."

Duration: 70 min

Written and Performed by Ren Lunicke

Original Production directed by Stuart Devenie

Tree Photo by Megan Bowers-Vette

Warning: Recommended 12+ for dramatic intensity.

PERFORMANCES:

Saturday, September 15, 7:00 pm (followed by "Ze" at 9:00 pm)
Sunday, September 16, 5:00 pm (followed by "Ze" at 7:00 pm)

WHERE:

Stephanie Feury Studio Theatre 5636 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

TICKETS:

Single Show Price

$15 (for Senior/Students $10)

Double Show Price (after purchase of a ticket to "Ze".)

$10 (for Senior/Students $5)

BOX OFFICE: https://bloodrelative.brownpapertickets.com/

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"Ze": queer as....!

Award-Winning Comedy about gender, labels, and identity

"Ze": queer as ****! is a dark comedy about sex, gender, and the expanding parade of labels and identities Michelle/Ryan (now Ren) claims on zir way to pride. (*ze/zir are gender neutral pronouns)

"Ze" had its global premiere in Perth, Australia in 2016, where it was nominated for a Comedy Award, and has since toured to sold-out audiences in every country and winning awards for its unique brand of comedy and level of artistic risk with new content for the stage. Trans non-binary identities have only continued to rise in awareness since then.

In this international queer origin story, Ren rips the bandage away from zir startling puritanical upbringing and is catapulted by zir experiences through a complex and surprising "coming out" process as a genderqueer, kinky, femmesexual, polyminded, gay-divorcée. Along each step of the way ze discovers each new beloved community is at times just as ridiculous and pigeon-holed as the one ze's just left.

Part theatre, story-telling, and stand-up, Ren both uses and parodies the labels meant to help an individual embrace their truth in a modern world desperate for definition. "Ze" brings the audience along a rarely told journey of gender fluidity and micro-identities in a PRIDE-worthy celebration that exposes the tension between being authentic to oneself and belonging to one's community.

Duration: 60 minutes

Written and Performed by Ren Lunicke

Original Production directed by Peter Larsen

Scream Photo by Virginia Guy

Warning: Recommended 18+ for coarse language and explicit sexual reference

PERFORMANCES:

Saturday, September 15, 9:00 pm (directly after 7:00 pm BLOOD RELATIVE with a short break)
Sunday, September 16, 7:00 pm (directly after 5:00 pm BLOOD RELATIVE with a short break)

WHERE:

Stephanie Feury Studio Theatre 5636 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

TICKETS:

Single Show Price

$15 (for Senior/Students $10)

Double Show Price (after purchase of a ticket to BLOOD RELATIVE.)

$10 (for Senior/Students $5)

BOX OFFICE: https://zequeerasfuck.brownpapertickets.com/

*Ren identifies as trans non-binary and so uses they/them or ze/zir pronouns except when referring to their former self 'Michelle' with "she/her."

Zir Productions is a live performance Production Company committed to creating connection "beyond all binaries."

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