Diane Torr is an artist, director and educator working in performance, film and installation. She has been making performances in New York for over 25 years. Her work explores notions of gender and the erotic, and focuses on strategies to reinvent the narratives of sex and gender. Her solo drag performances have been seen around town since 1982.
Diane’s art performances and installations are presented in galleries, performance venues and festivals throughout the U.S. and Europe. She has taught Drag King Workshops in over 20 cities, including Istanbul, Helsinki, Berlin, Glasgow, Lisbon, New York, and New Delhi. She was a protagonist of the feature film, VenusBoyz, by Swiss filmmaker, Gabriel Baur. Diane’s work has been the subject of profiles on BBC2 Q.E.D. and HBO’s “Reel Sex”, in the Washingon Post, Village Voice, London Independent, the Guardian, Der Spiegel, German Vogue, among others. She also receives grants and awards from NYSCA, Jerome Foundation, Art Matters, Yorkshire Arts, and the Scottish arts Council.
King’s Village is honoured to welcome Diane Torr for the first time in Italy, and invites women to attend this unique event. The workshop will take place July 10th and 11th from the morning to the afternoon. Workshop fee is: euro 70.

For info: info@kingsvillage.it
http://www.dianetorr.com

The Drag King Workshop is a unique experience
for women only

“This is a workshop that I’ve been teaching for over 16 years and women have taken it for a variety of reasons. Maybe during a lifetime of observing men in your neighborhood, on the subway, in the office, in cars, in your home, etc., you have a certain curiosity about how they “get away” with certain behaviors that would be considered undesirable in women. You might want to experience the transformation from female to male as a way to intercept your so-called “normal” behavior as woman, and discover new responses. Think about the process of buying a car.......as a woman, it is generally assumed that you know nothing about cars, and car dealers generally reflect that attitude.

After a workshop, one particularly convincing participant actually went to a car dealership and used her male guise as a means to cut a deal that she said would have been unthinkable as a woman. Other women have attended the workshop and then met with a lover (male or female) for a night of role-play thrills. Some participants are actresses and opera singers, who had “pants” roles and they wanted to make their characters more authentic. Occasionally, a woman has attended the workshop who wanted to explore her desire to become a man permanently, and then the workshop was a catalyst for that decision. For most participants - their reason to commit to being a man for a day, or a weekend was to have fun, to be outrageous. By exploring familiar situations, like going to a bar or restaurant and interacting with others in a new identity, there was a chance to play with ideas that are taken so seriously on a daily basis - hey what are you? A Man or a Woman??? Of course, women have cross-dressed throughout history and used the guise to their advantage.

An important distinction to the workshop is that the intention is not to “pass”, but rather to question what is considered a given. In the course of constructing another identity, one instantly sees other possibilities of being. In becoming a man you learn how to “walk the walk” and “talk the talk” without having to wear a testosterone patch! This is a chance to escape for one day from the social construction of a “woman” identity and to literally discover a new YOU!!”
During the weekend workshop, either Diane or a make-up artist will give each person an individual make-over and will provide facial hair, 5 o’clock shadow, etc. Each person is responsible for the male clothes they will need for their male identity. Please also bring: hair gel, a wide elasticated bandage (5inches minimum) to bind breasts, and a fake penis - (condom stuffed with cotton wool for example).

We will learn how to take up space, walk, eat, drink, pick up objects, smile, etc. as men. We will interact with each other, in character, and develop our new identities. The workshop culminates in a visit to a public place such as bar, strip club, dance club, where we will test out our new identities. We each take from the workshop what is useful to us, but we all leave with the shared experience (and the kick) of going beyond our “regular” selves and expanding our gender repertoire