BODY HORROR: RECLAIMING JOY IN NARRATIVES OF FEARTransLash Magazine defines transgender horror in media as featuring gender as something to overcome, as tragedy, or as a punchline. Much can be said about the intersections of transgender representation and the horror genre written from the perspective of cisgender creatives, from slashers like Sleepaway Camp, and psychological thriller The Silence of the Lambs. Horror as a medium traditionally explores the horrors of marginalization through the lens of an oppressor, but what if we generated horror that subverted that expectation and placed such stories in the hands of those not represented in this medium?
BODY HORROR: Reclaiming Joy in Narratives of Fear is a meditation and generative 4-week workshop focusing on creating an original horror script for the stage. Together as a cohort, we will investigate where theatre has failed to capture horror, where it has succeeded, and how to overcome the tragedy of "camp" to create horror that is exciting, spine-tingling, and humanizing for our desired protagonists. An exercise in identity, euphoria, juxtaposed with what goes bump in the night, we will each generate one rough draft of a new stage play. While it is encouraged to use this workshop to develop a full-length play, writing processes look different for everyone, so any length is acceptable to work upon in the time we share together. Finding kinship and identity in our favorite haunts is an all-inclusive and non-exclusive experience, and while this class will especially play a keen eye to the lived experiences of queer characters through this genre, this class will be open to all looking to generate new pages in a genre so often misrepresented on the stage. As the class will be focused on subversion of horror and re-centering joy in marginalized spaces, special attention will be given to interrogation of self in the crux of identity, which is a universally lived experience of all. |
INSTRUCTORRiley Elton McCarthy (they/he) is an award winning, critically acclaimed nonbinary playwright and instructor of theatre currently pursuing their MFA in Playwriting at Rutgers. Their community-based practice includes interrogation of self, subversion of societal-based expectation, and the breaking of unspoken "rules" to create a more equitable and considerate new future for theatre-making. Riley has been produced off-broadway, in Edinburgh, Copenhagen, and London, and guest lectures on horror theatre in colleges across America. Profiled by TimeOut Miami as a "must-see" emerging playwright, Riley has been hailed as a "vanguard figure of socially conscious theatre" (CPH Post), and "the most original voice in horror since Mike Flanagan" (The Scotsman). More than anything, Riley believes that theatre is a tool for empathy and healing, and strives to represent that best in their theatre spaces. rileyeltonmccarthy.com
Image credit: Radek Ladczuk, The Babadook
THIS CLASS IS AVAILABLE IN PERSON ONLY
AT ABRONS ARTS CENTER: 466 Grand Street, NY, NY MONDAYS 6-8 PM EST April 8 - April 29, 2024 4 sessions $250 Tuition BIPOC sliding scale available 50% low income discount available + $25 non-refundable registration fee |
This program is made possible through the generous support of the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA).
