THEY, THEMSELF AND SCHMERM Receives West Coast Premiere

Artists Rep and PICA's Time-Based Art (TBA) Festival 2017 partner to co-present They, Themself and Schmerm, written and performed by New York's Becca Blackwell, directed and developed by Ellie Heyman in collaboration with Jill Pangallo and Jess Barbagallo. This one-weekend production, the first of Artists Rep's 2017/18 FRONTIER SERIES bringing new work in performance to Portland, will run for four performances September 8 through September 11, 2017.

Part standup comedy special, part teen zine confessional, They, Themself and Schmerm is Becca's disturbingly hilarious personal tale of identity, abuse, sexuality and gender. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll question what bathroom to use.

"I am delighted to work with PICA to bring Becca Blackwell's work to Portland audiences," said FRONTIER SERIES curator, Jerry Tischleder. "Becca is an incredibly charismatic artist whose performance rides a fine line between loving confrontation and disturbing comedy. Their first-person stories of navigating public restroom choices, children's questions about gender and other daily encounters offer a unique glimpse into one amazing human being's journey to be their authentic self."

SPECIAL EVENT: As part of PICA's TBA 2017 programming, Becca Blackwell will share insights into the creation of They, Themself, and Schmerm, including themes of gender and transition, strategies of humor, and forms of comedy and personal narrative. Blackwell will be in dialogue with TBA Guest Scholar bart fitzgerald and Shawna Lipton, Chair, MA in Critical Studies, Pacific Northwest College of Art. The conversation will take place Tuesday, September 12 from 12:30pm to 1:30pm at Pacific Northwest College of Art's (PNCA) Shipley/Collins Mediatheque at 511 NW Broadway, Room 107. Admission is free.

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