Photos: Harris Singer’s TAKE ME TO DOLLYWOOD at The Downstairs at La MaMa

You can now get a first look at the world premiere of Take Me to Dollywood, Harris Singer’s Queer Southern fever dream. A The Fool Volk production directed by Luke Wisniewski began preview performances on Thursday, May 14, 2026, and celebrated its official opening on Saturday, May 16, 2026, at The Downstairs at La MaMa Experimental Theater Club. Take Me to Dollywood  blends Queer confession, Southern gothic ritual, absurdist comedy, erotic theatricality, and pop-cultural mythology into a singular, immersive experience. Performances will continue through Sunday, May 31, 2026. 

Take Me to Dollywood is a new full-length collage of scenes and experiments with a Queer Southern twang. On a porch in the south, a faceless Dolly Parton haunts the stage as characters find themselves on the edge of relationships, sexuality, and reality. A woman has eaten her hand, a sexy gummy bear awaits certain death, two men meet for a hook-up, a boss rummages through his employees’ desks, and the playwright details his sex life. Dollywood transforms the Southern home into a charged space of erotic awakening,  generational trauma, camp, and theatrical ritual. 

At its center is “The Playwright” — Harris Singer — playing a version of himself. As the characters spiral through hookups, hauntings, religious reckonings, and Dolly-inflected ritual, Take Me to Dollywood asks: Can you ever truly leave your home — or your family? What does queer escapism look like as we move through life, and what does it cost us? And what kinds of mess do we make with the people we love — or once loved? Singer performs opposite his real-life mother, Lisa Cohen, who appears in the production as The Playwright’s Mom. Directly engaging the audience, Take Me to Dollywood is a true theatrical experience in the spirit of La MaMa’s legacy of boundary-pushing experimentation.

The cast of Take Me to Dollywood includes Sam Flynn, Brason Jones, Tomias Robinson, Carter, Earl Dax, Michelle Zabinski as Dream Dolly, Harris Singer as The Playwright, and Lisa Cohen as The Playwright’s Mom. Understudies are Carolyn Best and Royce Johnson. 

In addition to Singer and Wisniewski, the creative team includes Lighting Designer Josh Healing, Projection Designer Micah Dominguez-Schatz, Scenic Designer Sean Lillis, Sound Designer Dustin Frankel, Costume Designer Harper Edge, Stage Manager Orla Patterson, and Production Manager Nikita Chernin,

Photo credit: Alishio 

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