THE SONG OF LIP AND TARANTULA to Return in Workshop Production at The Tank
Performances will take place on June 25 and 26.
The Tank will present workshop production of The Song of Lip and Tarantula written by Aviva Pearl Ocean Creation, directed by Kelley-Marie Van Dilla, and starring Aviva Pearl Ocean Creation and Airen Guevara.
The Song of Lip and Tarantula is a transsexual codependent family tragedy about childbirth, murder, and Shabbat dinner.
The play follows two transgender sisters named Lip and Tarantula. After a tragic 'accident' leaves her estranged trans-sister Tarantula dead on the concrete, Lip brings Tarantula's body home, steals her unborn baby, and starts making a Shabbat dinner that she believes will bring Tarantula back to life along with their 26 trans children.
Aviva Pearl Ocean Creation wrote The Song of Lip and Tarantula after an upheaval in her own chosen family forced her to grapple with the cycle of violence prevalent in trans-feminine communities. This story speaks to the near-impossible choice trans women face of making their own families with under-resourced and traumatized peers or striving to fit into a world that wishes them gone. In light of the onslaught of legislation targeting the trans community, in particular trans women, this play is more relevant than ever.
ABOUT THE TEAM:
Aviva Pearl Ocean Creation is a Jewish trans-feminine writer and comedienne based in Queens. Aviva's work has been shown at venues such as the Bell House, Under St. Marks Theater, Billie Holiday Theater, the Tank, Berkeley Repertory Theater, San Francisco Contemporary Jewish Museum, and in print and online literary journals. Aviva is the recipient of the Trans Justice Funding Project Grant for her work on her last play, Clay Mommy, which was also awarded commended status by the Jewish Plays Project. She holds a BFA from NYU Tisch in Dramatic Writing.
Airen Guevara is a queer Mexicana actress originally from Texas now based in New York. She was recently seen in the New York debut workshop of The Song of Lip and Tarantula as Tarantula as well as a staged reading of Olvídame as Celeste (Jamaica center for Arts&Learning), in Not that Kind of Girl as Rachel (The Tank), as well as Love Labour's Lost & Richard II as The Princess and Aumerle in rep (Shakespeare in the Woods).
Kelley-Marie Van Dilla is an NYC-based non-binary trans-femme director and writer. KM's upcoming feature film, CLIO, is being produced by Lilly Wachowski's Anarchists United. Recent work includes their autobiographical hybrid feature film/play, LET GO OF ME (2021), the short films, B3d 0f R0s3s and LET GO, MOTHER (starring Deirdre O'Connell). Other projects include SUPERFAKES with A24 + Peacock, THE CROWDED ROOM with Apple, AMERICAN RUST with Amazon Prime, and HIGH MAINTENANCE with HBO.
The Song of Lip and Tarantula was first seen by the public in a staged reading at Seventh Heaven Bar in December, directed by Kelley-Marie Van Dilla and starring Aviva Pearl Ocean Creation and Rosalina Michele. The Song of Lip and Tarantula had its first ever workshop production at Under St. Marks Theater in early February, performed by Aviva Pearl Ocean Creation and Airen Guevara, with direction from Sasha Gheesling. It will go on to have its international premiere at CC Blooms in Edinburgh, Scotland as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival from August 8 - 30 this summer.
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