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Holly Hughes: Not My President’s Day

February 19, 2017
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In a new American Theatre interview, Stamps Professor Holly Hughes discusses the movement inspired by her Facebook post: on Monday, February 20, Not My President’s Day creative protests by feminist performance artists will take place at venues around the country.

Ann Arbor area events include:

  • Bad Hombres and Nasty Women/​Not My President’s Day at Neutral Zone, 310 East Washington Street, Ann Arbor — featuring Stamps faculty Holly Hughes, Malcolm Tulip, and Leslie Rogers, as well as alumna Erin Markey. Proceeds benefit Planned Parenthood.
  • Bad and Nasty at Light Box, 8641 Linwood St, Detroit, featuring Stamps faculty Melanie Manos and Emilia Javanica. Proceeds benefit ACLU.
  • Bad and Nasty Cabaret at 26 North Washington Street, Ypsilanti. Proceeds benefit Planned Parenthood.

View all locations at badand​nasty​.com.

“About two weeks after the election, I posted an idle threat, as I am known to do on Facebook, saying I was going to do some sort of cabaret in Ann Arbor, where I live,” Hughes recalls. She called all ​“Bad Hombres and Nasty Women” to revolt on President’s Day, which she would rebrand as ​“Not My President’s Day.” Within minutes, people started liking her post and saying they wanted in. ​“By the next morning, there were so many people that wanted to interpret the idea on their own I was moaning, because I couldn’t add them quickly enough to the Facebook group,” Hughes says.

Fortunately others stepped up to the plate, including another giant of the feminist avant-garde movement, Lois Weaver of Split Britches, as well as social media whiz Mary Jo Watts. The ​“Bad Hombres and Nasty Women” Facebook group swelled to what is now almost 2,000 members, with more than 50 planned sites in the works.

Not My President events will be happening in both big cities and and smaller communities. At La MaMa in New York City, Karen Finley (also one of the NEA Four) is among the lineup in an event curated and hosted by Nicky Paraiso. Also in New York, Penny Arcade and Tammy Faye Starlite will read David Mamet’s The Anarchist at the WOW Café (directed by no less than Austin Pendleton). Meanwhile in Houston, Texas, the punk lesbian feminist band Girls in the Nose will join feminist performance groups Les Nez, MyDolls, and Kegels for Hegel in a rousing evening. Performance artist Raegan Truax represents in San Francisco, and in London the performance collective Pussy Patrons will screen their short film GRAB by PUSSY PATRONS.

Staging a Resistance Holiday: Not My President’s Day | American Theatre

The Not My President’s Day performances have generated numerous news stories, including: