CAP UCLA Presents FARMHOUSE/WHOREHOUSE, an Artist Lecture by Suzanne Bocanegra Starring Lili Taylor

UCLA's Center for the Art of Performance (CAP UCLA) presents the West Coast premiere of Farmhouse/Whorehouse, an Artist Lecture by Suzanne Bocanegra Starring Lili Taylor, directed by Obie Award-winner Lee Sunday Evans, on Saturday, April 14 at 8 p.m. at The Theatre at Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Single tickets are now available for $44.50-$59.50 online at cap.ucla.edu and theatre.acehotel.com, via AXS by phone at 888-929-7849 and in person at The Theatre at Ace Hotel box office.

Featuring acclaimed actress Lili Taylor (American Crime, Six Feet Under, Mystic Pizza),Farmhouse/Whorehouse is the newest in a series of artist talks by celebrated visual artist Suzanne Bocanegra, following When a Priest Marries a Witch, an Artist Lecture by Suzanne Bocanegra Starring Paul Lazar and Bodycast, an Artist Lecture by Suzanne Bocanegra Starring Frances McDormand.

Part personal narrative, part cultural history, Farmhouse/Whorehouse considers the American myth of rural utopia through the lives of Bocanegra's grandparents on their small farm in La Grange, Texas, which was located across the road from the Chicken Ranch, better known as "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas."

"My grandparents' farm and the famous brothel, the Chicken Ranch, were right across the highway from each other in La Grange, Texas," said Bocanegra. "A small farm and a rural whorehouse hiding in plain sight - both were historical anomalies in the late 20th century. I couldn't tell the story of my grandparents' hard scrabble farm without telling the story of the Chicken Ranch."

Using text, costumes, video projections and a new song by Shara Nova with lyrics by Bocanegra's grandmother, Bocanegra and Taylor tell a rambling tale examining the idyllic place the rural world occupies in our urban imagination, as well as the invention of the pastoral in art, contemporary homesteading and back to the land movements, and various utopian communities throughout history.

In its West Coast premiere at CAP UCLA, Farmhouse/Whorehouse made its world premiere in April 2017 at CounterCurrent Festival in Houston, has also been performed at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus and had its New York premiere as part of BAM's Next Wave Festival in December 2017.

Farmhouse/Whorehouse is a commission of the CounterCurrent Festival at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts, University of Houston.

CAP UCLA's upcoming programs include Colson Whitehead (April 19, Royce Hall), Eighth Blackbird featuring Will Oldham (Bonnie "Prince" Billy) (April 21, The Theatre at Ace Hotel), Ann Hamilton and Siti Company in the theater is a blank page (April 28 to May 12, Royce Hall), and Angélique Kidjo's Remain In Light (May 5, The Theatre at Ace Hotel).

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