Event

20 Rue Jacob

Inspired by the life and work of early twentieth-century painter Romaine Brooks, 20 Rue Jacob will bring Brooks' unique portraits to life through video, sound, contemporary dance, sculpture, and drag, resulting in a cyclical multi-media immersive performance extravaganza! The event will take place at the historic Hoffheimer Building located at 2816 W Broad St. (Scotts Addition RVA)

Doors open at 7pm and performances will cycle from 7:30 - 9:30pm (approximately).

This event is as much a party as it is an art show/exhibit/performance, so dress in your flyiest 1920's attire and bring some dancin' shoes! Cash bar, local snax, loungey vintage furniture and DANCE FLOOR will be all be present!!

Spearheaded by Courtney Harris and her collaborator, Charli Brissey, 20 Rue Jacob brings together the talents and voices of many. This includes visual artist, Nicole Bauguss, scholar and performance artist, Michael J. Morris, and an extensive cast of local and national performers including dancers, musicians, media artists, philosophers, and poets.

This rad cast includes:
Catherine Faszewski
Rachel Rinehardt
David Deegan
Nikolai McKenzie
Christina Carlotti Kolb
DiaMonte Scoggins
Jessica Cowherd
John Dombroski
Felix Cruz
Kimberly Barnes
Kate Zipse

& some surprise local collaborators!!

This project is made possible in part by the Virginia Commission for the Arts, the Arch & Bruce Brown Foundation, Yellowhouse NYC, Westbrooke Homes, Bygones Vintage Clothing, Deborah Edgar Real Estate Group, and the generous donations of 32 Hatchfund patrons!

SOME CONTEXT:
Romaine Brooks, an American ex-patriot referred to in texts as both a lesbian and bisexual, was a painter most famous for her androgynous portraitures of lesbians, masculine women, and female dandies. Her paintings not only reveal non-normative qualities of gender performance and identity that are substantial in present Western culture, but expose traces of the underground lifestyle of these rogue women, like Gertrude Stein, Una Troubridge, Radclyffe Hall, Colette, Natalie Barney, and Ida Rubenstein. Transgressing the social mandates of their time through self-actualized utopias, these women met secretly in private bars and homes, making deliberate choices to dress, flirt, and act in rebellion to the social mores of their time. Brooks' ability to capture and memorialize some of these individuals serves as the driving motivation for this piece, as well as archetypes for the cast of performers. Accordingly, this project aims to recognize and honor queer voices of the past, while re-contextualizing their sexuality and gender through the lens of current migratory identities.

'20 Rue Jacob' is the address of Natalie Clifford Barney's home in the Left Bank of Paris where she held her famous salons during the early twentieth century. Researching the 'happenings' present in these salons has been a major influence into the crafting of this performative art party.