Goldstar

Highways Performance Space presents the narrative performance collective The Quarterly Report's brand new, 13th ensemble show, Triple X. Guaranteed to turn up the heat, the show will feature live performances of intimate personal stories that are torrid, titillating and/or socially taboo. Learn more...

Highways Performance Space presents innovative San Francisco-based dance/theater company Dandelion Dancetheater's Testiculish and Other Adventures Through the Underbelly, an evening of boundary-pushing excerpts from their recent works. In addition to their newest work oust (chapter 1), Dandelion is bringing excerpts of ANICCA , the recent full-length Undressed work and the West Coast premiere of Testiculish. Learn more...

Highways Performance Space presents the return of Dan Kwong to the stage with his first full-length solo show in nine years. Inspired by his discoveries and insights while working in Asia, It's Great 2B _N American inspects the psychological carry-on baggage that comes with a U.S. passport and an Asian face -- at home, an ethnic minority; abroad, a citizen of the great global power. Learn more...

The sometimes controversial and always funny Los Angeles Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence present their newest work, Free My A*s!, an iconoclastic expose, in drag, of the ways in which we are no longer free, in which we are freer than we know, and in which we invent "freedom" as a construct. Learn more...

Performance/theater artist D'Lo grew up gay in a Hindu Sri Lankan family in Los Angeles County while immersed in hip-hop youth culture. This potpourri of influences, often at odds with each other, serves as the basis for the uproarious parade of personalities D'Lo brings to the stage in this coming-of-age one-woman show. Learn more...

In Egg Farm, a collective of revolutionaries has developed a new technology to spawn a race of humans totally devoid of flaws. As with all paths to perfection, this journey demands severe devotion. Witness those who would martyr themselves to generate a world free from conflict and strife. Would you? Learn more...

L.A. Plays Itself is a weekend of performances that illuminate the emotional landscape of the City of Angels. This outpouring of Los Angeles stories, from Skid Row to WeHo, creates a tapestry--comprised of heartbreak and hope, disillusionment and discovery--told by a collection of artists with clear (and often queer) voices. See full event description for performance schedule. Learn more...

Action Conversations is the culmination of a 15-week workshop that joined military veterans, performing artists and activists in a series of verbal and physical conversations about their lives, their life histories and aspirations. Through a collaborative process, the performers initiate a discourse on identity, heroics, morality and civic duty. Learn more...

The L.A.-based theatre/comedy performance troupe Spotlight Stealerz takes the stage at Highways. Stealing the spotlight back from whoever stole it from them, the Spotlight Stealerz come to the stage with light (duh) and love. Through their homie-ship, they are fanatic about shedding light on both the exquisite and atrocious aspects of being alive in this day in age. Learn more...

Highways Performance Space presents Jamie Benson's and Andrae Gonzalo's Go Metro..., six wry dance pieces that utilize the L.A. public transit system as a vehicle for expressing human drama. Benson's seductive choreography fuses Jazz, Ballet, and Modern dance technique to explore the incessant instinct to "get somewhere" only to realize you've arrived at the place you began. Learn more...

Highways Performance Space presents its 4th Annual Poetry/Performance Festival with Word(4), curated by LeVan D. Hawkins. This is a three-day, four-show examination of the many ways performance poets present their work, using theatrics, vocal skills, music, film, and costumes to enhance the written word. Check the listing for more details. Learn more...

Highways Performance Space celebrates 19 years of developing and presenting brave and uncensored new work with two nights of dance, music, performance and spoken word. Each show features a different program of nationally renowned performers and Highways veterans, including blue13 dance company, DanceGood.Damnit!!!, Rosanna Gamson/World Wide, Naked with Shoes, ARTEL, Nao Bustamante, LeVan D. Hawkins, Mira Kingsley and Dorian Wood. See full event description for lineup. Learn more...

In Brief Buddies, gay men perform short solo pieces, in their briefs, celebrating the unique relationship of The Buddy. From baths to bars to chat rooms to the theatre, these fierce performers search for pleasure, meaning and ultimately their own gay souls. The show is curated by GLAAD Award-nominated performance artist Ian MacKinnon. Learn more...

Highways Performance Space presents David Leddick and Andrew Sargent's new musical Presenting Gilda Lily: "My Years in Hollywood," the saga of a mythological movie goddess. Leddick and Sargent are responsible for such previous musicals as Quentin and I and It's a Fabulous Life. Learn more...

Four-Headed Dance II is an evening of original dance, dance/theater and performance work by Keith Glassman, Kiha Lee, Kristen Smiarowski, and Sri Susilowati. With backgrounds that include prestigious Los Angeles Horton awards, COLA awards, Dance for Social Action and dancing surfers, these distinctive individual artists premiere an eclectic assortment of work for the stage. Learn more...

Highways Performance Space presents d. Sabela grimes' cutting-edge theatrical street-dancing-derived hip-hop narrative, BulletProof Deli, which travels the country in search of brotherly love. Sabela manifests speech into a physical energy, simultaneously transforming sound into visual performance. Learn more...

Highways Performance Space and Saleem present 1001 Gay Arabian Nights, where Men of the Middle East and the Mediterranean weave a rare spell of magic and sensuality through the conjuring of both sacred and secular Arabic music and movement. This is a collection of visually intoxicating and thought provoking exotic dances, movement, music, and spoken word drawn from Indian, Persian, Egyptian, and Arab ancient culture and traditions. Learn more...

Highways Performance Space presents Women and War, curated by Samantha Giron, which brings together female choreographers from Los Angeles and San Francisco to explore the human experience of war from different perspectives than those typically presented. It portrays untold stories of women's participation in war that contradict commonly-held notions. Learn more...

Highways Performance Space presents writer-performer-actress Meera Simhan's one-woman performance, Miss India America, the comically tragic coming-of-age story of growing up as a 'good' little Indian girl in Orange County, CA. Simhan has enjoyed recurring roles on House, Nip/Tuck, Invasion and The District. Learn more...

Highways Performance Space presents Ric Montejano's The Unforgiving Road. Veteran performer Montejano wrote directed, and starred in this combination of narrative, jazz riffs, and fantasy, which takes on such diverse topics as the Gay 80s, AIDS, crystal meth, incest, obession and murder. Learn more...

Highways Performance Space presents Invertigo Dance Theatre's Leap Year Waltzes, an evening of three new works by choreographer Laura Karlin filled with twisted narratives, playful imagery, and intense physicality. Invertigo recognizes that we live in the dizzy spaces, the tipping points, the moment where indecision decides, the places where balance turns upside-down. Learn more...

Is It Dance?, curated by Diana Sherwood, is an evening of artists working in diverse media who grapple with ideas of found, assemblage and everyday dance, at Highways. The artists in Is It Dance? explore forms of dance found in places we may not usually expect to find it--defining these ideas in their own way and envisioning dance in the context of their work. Learn more...

Comedian and renowned socio-political satirist Brandon Bowlin presents part two of his acclaimed show, Rise: A One-Man Comedy Vibe. In a long-awaited return to the forum that had Quincy Jones call him a "rare talent," Bowlin swings wide with his mixed style of music, video, live sketches, cartoons and monologues that take on subjects ranging from the Iraq War to home foreclosures to steroids. Learn more...

Highways Performance Space presents New Music from Maybeck Studio, where the two fast-lanes to the musical future on the West Coast - California Institute of the Arts and the Center for Contemporary Music at Mills College - intersect for two evenings of loud, quiet, simple, complex, sweet, strange and wonderful new sounds. Learn more...

Highways Performance Space presents the premiere of Action Conversations, a new full-evening performance work directed by Victoria Marks. Action Conversations is the culmination of a 15-week workshop that joined veterans, performing artists and activists in a series of verbal and physical conversations about their lives, their life histories, and aspirations. Learn more...

blue13 brings a little cabaret to Bollywood in a saucey, sexy and silly weekend of contemporary Bollywood dance. Featuring premieres in the company's signature style, Bollywood-Tech, as well as the restaging of pure Bollywood & Bhangra favorites, classical Indian and Neo-Kathak pieces, audience participation and more. Learn more...

To commemorate the King holiday, Highways Performance Space presents J.M. Morris's Courage: The Content of Their Character II Trilogy, directed by award-winning filmmaker Charles Burnett ("To Sleep With Anger," the upcoming "Namibia: Struggle for Freedom" with Danny Glover). The production is an eclectic three-part presentation of song, multimedia and performance pieces. Learn more...

DanceGood.Damnit!!! (DGDI) returns to Highways Performance Space with Orifice, a new collection of dance theatre works. Questioning the concepts of selective filtering, metaphysical dysfunction, and the effects of resistance and acceptance, these artists remind us how porous we forget we are. Learn more...

Butchlalis de Panochtitlan, Los Angeles's troublesome trio, presents Dickwhipped! -- an all-new, full-length show with sketches and videos that turn Latino masculinity on its head. The show will feature new work, including a video documentary of a young lesbian's metamorphosis into a gender-player Drag King with the help of her Momma Drag mentor. Learn more...

Highways Performance Space presents four local choreographers, Stefan Fabry, Anne and Jeff Grimaldo, and Sarah Swenson, all members of the Rudy Perez Performance Ensemble, who come together for the first time to present an evening of their own work, Quattroformaggio. Pieces include "Common Side Effects," "1% Rot, " "Pavane for an Iraqi Girl" and "Civilization." Learn more...

Highways Performance Space presents the premiere of Variation #50 (the memorable adventures during the legendary times of Mikhail Afanasievich Bulgakov), the new full-length work by Los Angeles-based theatre collective ARTEL. Variation #50 captures the soul of the Russian satirist Mikhail Bulgakov and the essence of his times: Russia, 1917-1940. Learn more...

Writer/director/actor/activist Michael Kearns performs a reading of his newest work, Going In: Once Upon a Time in South Africa at Highways Performance Space. Going In is a spoken memoir chronicling a month that Kearns spent in Johannesburg with his daughter, working at an orphanage. Learn more...

Highways Performance Space presents 4 X 4: Four New Works by Four Queer Artists, featuring Gregory Barnett/DanceGood.Damnit!, Darren Blaney, D'Lo and Alison De La Cruz. Building on the traditions of socially progressive alternative performance, these emerging artists were selected to develop and present fierce new works. Learn more...

Join Highways Performance Space in Ritual and Celebration for the traditional Mexican Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Come honor the ancestors and recently departed with altares, ofrendas and performance. Participate in the Dia de Los Muertos Nahuatl Ceremony, led by Martha Ramirez-Oropeza, to welcome and honor the ancestors and recently departed, followed by the performance of Calavereando, a physical mask theater piece influenced by Mexican Popular Theater styles. Learn more...

See your favorite dance and performance artists endure challenges in this fierce and friendly competition to the win the "Golden Unitard." Think "Survivor" meets "Dance Fever." Surprise celebrity judges including Nao Bustamante will have the final word on who will win. Learn more...

Highways Performance Space with EZTV and Collage Ensemble presents The Fingered Seven, with special guests Donna Sternberg & dancers. This evening of short works by two of L.A.'s most venerable multimedia digital performance art groups combines elements of musical performance with dance, theatrical and installation art. An artists' panel discussion follows each show. Learn more...

EmBODYment is a mix of improvisational movement and contemporary dance works that amplify body-mind awareness along with physical prowess. The show is performed by Somatic Movement Arts (SOMA) Festival artists from New York City, Seattle, the Bay Area and the progressive L.A. community. Learn more...

The 3rd Annual Latino New Works Festival is the first and only Westside festival dedicated to contemporary performance and visual art created by solo Latino artists and independent performance/dance companies. This year's festival, curated by Highways Artistic Director Leo Garcia, features performances by a diverse line-up of talented artists. See listing for complete schedule. Learn more...

Highways Performance Space presents 9/11: Perspectives and Pretensions Trilogy, an eclectic three-part presentation of poetry, music, multimedia and performance pieces featuring writer J.M. Morris' signature serious to satirical take on the effects of 9/11's aftermath - both real and imagined - on various individuals and institutions. Learn more...

This presentation of four new short performance works focus on the ritual of marriage, the journey of the hero, the value of ice in Iraq, America's obsession with their lawns, whirling dervishes, hidden scars (both physical or mental), and the complexities of compassion. The performances involve puppets, projections, Polaroids, a graffiti artist and ideas turned inside out. Learn more...

Highways Performance Space and TeAda Productions presents Outflow, a new performance work of local and multicultural artists with a collection of personal and public oral histories from the residents of Santa Monica. The show include new site-specific and durational work by Joy Anderson, LaTrice a. Dixon, Jessica Gudiel, Monica Moran, Marcus Kuiland-Nazario and Mitsu Salmon. Learn more...

Poetically blending the borders between dance, theater, music and projected film, the works in Permanent Wilting journey into an imaginative new hybrid world of performance. All the aspects of performance--musical, physical, on film--come together to explore what it means to be human. Learn more...

Love Songs of the Blackbird uses dance and music to tell three different love stories about the search for a soul mate, life's passions and the spiritual journey for self-love. An Adam and Eve story with a twist; a comedic love triangle; and the journey toward inner peace are all explored with hip-hop, electronica, tango, tap and gospel, even ballet and Afro-modern dance. Learn more...

The Organika series features performances by Portland, Oregon's most adored folk musicians, Marc Manning and Armadillo Speedbump, as well as Mexican/American chanteuse Plastilina, plus films by director Brian Cuojoe Tolbert. Musician Dorian Wood closes the evening with the conceptual epic "Dead Cea." The concert explores the theme of new life, conceived specifically in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Learn more...

Earthwalk Dance Company performs the premiere of Gateways Thru Movement at Highways Performance Space. The evening features the premiere of works by James Keene, founder of Earthwalk Dance Company, as well as new work created by Company artists Jamie Kolpas and Alice Ngo. Learn more...

Highways Performance Space presents April Hava Shenkman's April Fools! Pig, an April Fools Extravaganza that just happens to be in July! It's a trick and a treat, an all out assault on sanity. Fools permits us to laugh at ourselves by exposing the naked joy of the joke. Shenkman is a performance artist, avant-garde clown who creates original works of theatre. Learn more...

Highways Performance Space and KGB Films presents an exclusive sneak peek of the film Holding Trevor, a melodic, complex narrative about youth culture, addictions, HIV, friendship and self-discovery, directed by Rosser Goodman and written by Brent Gorski. The film stars Gorski, Jay Brannan (Shortbus), Melissa Searing, Eli Kranski, and Chris Wylie. Many of the cast and crew will be in attendance for the screening. Learn more...

Highways presents Collective Present: In Constant Flux, two nights of improvisations with dance, music, theater, spoken word and video. This unique combination of machines, bodies, voices, sounds images and stories created in constant flux features the Bapudi Collective, Cuca Esteves, Elke Luyten, Meg Wolfe, April Shenkman, the DSS trio, Patricia Martinez and Linda Austin. Learn more...

French electric guitar innovator Richard Pinhas performs in a trio with Antoine Paganotti (drums) and Jerome Schmidt (electronics). Local experimental musicians also on the bill include a duo featuring G.E. Stinson (x tech guitar, effects, pulses) and Steuart Liebig (electric contrabass guitars), as well as a trio of Emily Hay (flutes, vocals, electronics), Carey Fosse (guitars, effects) and Brad Dutz (percussion). Learn more...