Rose: You Are Who You Eat
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Conceived, Written, and Performed by John Jarboe
Directed by MK Tuomanen
In Partnership with The Bearded Ladies Cabaret
Theatrical Co-World Premiere with Woolly Mammoth, CulturalDC, and FringeArts
From a commission by Works & Process at the Guggenheim
Presented as part of UNDER THE RADAR
Mark Russell, Festival Director & ArKtype, Festival Producer
A true story of fetal cannibalism and gender feasting, set to music.
Once upon a vine, John Jarboe’s aunt revealed that John not only had a twin sister in the womb, but that John consumed her: “You ate her. That’s why you are the way you are.” This was a lot for John to swallow! In this musical shrine to the consumed twin, named Rose, John welcomes you into a feast of gender through song, storytelling, and a full plate of wordplay. Featuring all original music, written in collaboration with Emily Bate, Daniel de Jesús, Pax Ressler, and Be Steadwell. From a commission by Works & Process at the Guggenheim. In Partnership with The Bearded Ladies Cabaret Rolling World Premiere with Woolly Mammoth, CulturalDC, and FringeArts.
Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission
Recommended for ages 14+
Strobe/Flashing Lights
Content warnings include: themes of fetal mortality and growing up queer in Michigan in the 90s, graphic eating imagery, sexually explicit language, and cannibal humor. Flashing lights will be used briefly, 40 minutes into the show.
Photo by Tony Hitchcock
Conceived, Written, and Performed by John Jarboe
Directed by MK Tuomanen
John Jarboe is a director, singer, writer, producer and host serving you revolution, herstory, queer community making, and a whole lot of glitter. She is the founding artistic director of The Bearded Ladies Cabaret, a Philadelphiabased company, now thirteen years old.
Rose was commissioned by Works & Process and developed in collaboration with The Bearded Ladies Cabaret. The work was created during the pandemic in Works & Process bubble residencies at Mount Tremper Arts and Bethany Arts Community, with the support of the Mellon Foundation and Doris Duke Foundation. Early iterations of Rose were presented by Works & Process in the Guggenheim Rotunda (2021) Guggenheim Theater (2022), and CulturalDC (2022).
Under the Radar Festival Director: Mark Russell
Under the Radar Festival Producer: ArKtype, Thomas O. Kriegsmann, President & Sami Pyne, Producing Director
In January 2024, the Under the Radar Festival (RADAR) will be reimagined as a new, city-wide annual festival of theater and performance emerging from New York and around the world that incisively speaks to our moment. Mark Russell, in collaboration with festival producers Thomas O. Kriegsmann and Sami Pyne of ArKtype, continue to evolve the legacy of the beloved festival. When Oskar Eustis assumed the role of Artistic Director of the Public Theater, he invited RADAR to be a part of his inaugural season, in 2006. Under the Radar quickly earned the reputation as one of the most significant and adventurous festivals in New York, known for providing a breakout platform for many artists. On June 1, 2023, the Public Theater announced that for financial reasons—in the midst of near-ubiquitous hardship within the American theater—it could no longer produce the Under the Radar Festival, after 18 editions, 17 of them at the Public. Rather than being tied to a single host institution, this iteration of Under the Radar is curated in collaboration with an array of New York arts organizations and curators, including La MaMa Theater. The festival sets an example of how collaboration can get the American theater through this moment of existential crisis: reinvigorated and ready to create a theater that can embrace diversity, risk, and reinvention.
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