Special Guest Festival MC
Turiya Autry
Turiya Autry
The Shows
The One Woman Grievance Parade, Lisa Mednick Powell
This will be mostly a sartorial statement, featuring strips of white cloth safety-pinned to Lisa's black outfit. Each strip of cloth will have one complaint clearly written in capital letters. The paradox for her roaming audience will be how to read the complaints while keeping enough of a distance from Lisa so as not to make her nervous. Good luck, everyone!
A Few Recent Histories of Haunted (Desert) Debacles, Claire Vaye Watkins and Ruth Nolan
Mojave Desert writers Claire Vaye Watkins, recently named "The important New voice of the American West" by the L.A. Times and Ruth Nolan, the inaugural Mojave Desert Literary Laureate, will read prose writing inspired by growing up and coming of age in wild and woolly places in the rural Mojave Desert and going from there....
Echoes of a Woman, Patricia West-Del Ruth
Voices from a horrific past play over and over in a woman's head as she struggles to confront three different personalities as they reveal the brutal reality of her life. different personalities as they reveal the brutal reality of her life.
Yes, No, Maybe so, Catherine Barnes
After an unsettling doctor’s appointment, Catherine’s inner social justice warrior, Professor Sarah P. Outrage, takes Catherine on a hilarious tour of her own fraught relationship with boundaries featuring song, characters, multimedia, and percussion instruments. Will Catherine find the courage to speak up about what happened to her - even though she sucks at consent?
Pas De Poubelles, Jenn Henry
Set to a 1987 USSR Set to a 1987 USSR recording of Tchaikovsky’s Pas de Deux from the Nutcracker (Op. 71, Act II: No. 14), “Pas de Poubelles” is a ballet duet with a trash bin. Initially enamored with the support of a partner - any partner - the ballerina grows suspicious that the largely inert garbage bin might not have what it takes to make a duet work.
This piece is dedicated to anyone who has ever been with a partner who acts like garbage.
The Desert Split Open, curated by Susan Rukeyser
The Desert Split Open is honored to appear at Hi-DeF Fringe 2022. Four local writers (Caryn Davidson, Annie Connole, Dwayne Alicie, and Susan Rukeyser) will read their original poetry and prose, offering a glimpse of the kind of work shared every month at the Desert Split Open Mic, Joshua Tree’s feminist, queer, and otherwise radical spoken word open mic.
Now in its fourth year, the Desert Split Open was created by Susan Rukeyser and her partner Mia Torres to continue the conversation started by Feckless Cunt: A Feminist Anthology, which Susan published as World Split Open Press. The Desert Split Open welcomes everyone who arrives with an open mind and heart, including those who would rather just listen.
Stories to Share, Sue Neal
Lillith The Demon
Garden of Eden
Created Equal
Van Ago, Go, Go
Olly Billy Bob Brown-America’s Favorite Thrillbilly, Allen Merritt
Olly Billy Bob Brown, America's Favorite Thrillbilly practices the gift of gab and gossip sharing humorous commentary on things he sees going on as he travels around the country. His perspective usually stems from backwards and backwoods humor Olly does not see things the way most people do, so he shares what he sees and hears from his unique silly and goofy point of view.
Cholla Needles, curated by George Howell
Cholla Needles, the high-desert monthly litmag, presents a group poetry reading. The featured writers include Susan Abbott, Cindy Rinne,, George Howell and John Sierpinski. Writers "on the fringe."
Elegant Betrayal, Rue Love
The music video Elegant Betrayal, created in Joshua Tree in 2021.
The video showcases an original song, which is a blend of spoken word and punk cabaret, as well as hooping and abstract explorations of color and light.
3 Short films, Roy Boucher
George
Happy Birthday Art
Bees and Seas
Tarot 4 U By U, Roy Boucher
I Roy will also lead up to 4, workshops during the day, each at 45 minutes to introduce Tarot. Each workshop would be limited to no more than 6 participants.
Torn Hide, Alex and Lauren Valdivia
Torn Hide is a psychological bull fight, centered within a worn western woman, who battles her darkness in a vicious struggle, day after day, bruised by the desert. A cycle that has no end. Yet she never gives up.
Another Round of Lame Excuses, Kurt Schauppner
Of his performance Kurt says, “I sit around playing songs l have written and telling stories about the songs. I am hoping I can convince at least one person to join me on stage but I can't make any promises because word seems to have gotten around that I don't play well with others.”
The One Woman Grievance Parade, Lisa Mednick Powell
This will be mostly a sartorial statement, featuring strips of white cloth safety-pinned to Lisa's black outfit. Each strip of cloth will have one complaint clearly written in capital letters. The paradox for her roaming audience will be how to read the complaints while keeping enough of a distance from Lisa so as not to make her nervous. Good luck, everyone!
A Few Recent Histories of Haunted (Desert) Debacles, Claire Vaye Watkins and Ruth Nolan
Mojave Desert writers Claire Vaye Watkins, recently named "The important New voice of the American West" by the L.A. Times and Ruth Nolan, the inaugural Mojave Desert Literary Laureate, will read prose writing inspired by growing up and coming of age in wild and woolly places in the rural Mojave Desert and going from there....
Echoes of a Woman, Patricia West-Del Ruth
Voices from a horrific past play over and over in a woman's head as she struggles to confront three different personalities as they reveal the brutal reality of her life. different personalities as they reveal the brutal reality of her life.
Yes, No, Maybe so, Catherine Barnes
After an unsettling doctor’s appointment, Catherine’s inner social justice warrior, Professor Sarah P. Outrage, takes Catherine on a hilarious tour of her own fraught relationship with boundaries featuring song, characters, multimedia, and percussion instruments. Will Catherine find the courage to speak up about what happened to her - even though she sucks at consent?
Pas De Poubelles, Jenn Henry
Set to a 1987 USSR Set to a 1987 USSR recording of Tchaikovsky’s Pas de Deux from the Nutcracker (Op. 71, Act II: No. 14), “Pas de Poubelles” is a ballet duet with a trash bin. Initially enamored with the support of a partner - any partner - the ballerina grows suspicious that the largely inert garbage bin might not have what it takes to make a duet work.
This piece is dedicated to anyone who has ever been with a partner who acts like garbage.
The Desert Split Open, curated by Susan Rukeyser
The Desert Split Open is honored to appear at Hi-DeF Fringe 2022. Four local writers (Caryn Davidson, Annie Connole, Dwayne Alicie, and Susan Rukeyser) will read their original poetry and prose, offering a glimpse of the kind of work shared every month at the Desert Split Open Mic, Joshua Tree’s feminist, queer, and otherwise radical spoken word open mic.
Now in its fourth year, the Desert Split Open was created by Susan Rukeyser and her partner Mia Torres to continue the conversation started by Feckless Cunt: A Feminist Anthology, which Susan published as World Split Open Press. The Desert Split Open welcomes everyone who arrives with an open mind and heart, including those who would rather just listen.
Stories to Share, Sue Neal
Lillith The Demon
Garden of Eden
Created Equal
Van Ago, Go, Go
Olly Billy Bob Brown-America’s Favorite Thrillbilly, Allen Merritt
Olly Billy Bob Brown, America's Favorite Thrillbilly practices the gift of gab and gossip sharing humorous commentary on things he sees going on as he travels around the country. His perspective usually stems from backwards and backwoods humor Olly does not see things the way most people do, so he shares what he sees and hears from his unique silly and goofy point of view.
Cholla Needles, curated by George Howell
Cholla Needles, the high-desert monthly litmag, presents a group poetry reading. The featured writers include Susan Abbott, Cindy Rinne,, George Howell and John Sierpinski. Writers "on the fringe."
Elegant Betrayal, Rue Love
The music video Elegant Betrayal, created in Joshua Tree in 2021.
The video showcases an original song, which is a blend of spoken word and punk cabaret, as well as hooping and abstract explorations of color and light.
3 Short films, Roy Boucher
George
Happy Birthday Art
Bees and Seas
Tarot 4 U By U, Roy Boucher
I Roy will also lead up to 4, workshops during the day, each at 45 minutes to introduce Tarot. Each workshop would be limited to no more than 6 participants.
Torn Hide, Alex and Lauren Valdivia
Torn Hide is a psychological bull fight, centered within a worn western woman, who battles her darkness in a vicious struggle, day after day, bruised by the desert. A cycle that has no end. Yet she never gives up.
Another Round of Lame Excuses, Kurt Schauppner
Of his performance Kurt says, “I sit around playing songs l have written and telling stories about the songs. I am hoping I can convince at least one person to join me on stage but I can't make any promises because word seems to have gotten around that I don't play well with others.”
The Venue
The fabulous Tower Homestead Guest Ranch in Wonder Valley, CA.
Beer, wine and catering by the Hungry Lizard will be available.
Outdoor COVID protocols will be observed.
76969 Amboy Rd Wonder Valley CA
The fabulous Tower Homestead Guest Ranch in Wonder Valley, CA.
Beer, wine and catering by the Hungry Lizard will be available.
Outdoor COVID protocols will be observed.
76969 Amboy Rd Wonder Valley CA
Your Producers, Ann and Miri