A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF SILICON VALLEY

Written, Programmed & Performed by CASUAL FREYDAY

A synth-pop send-up of techno-utopianism and startup bros. This byte of multimedia music-theater skewers and scrutinizes the inequalities and myopia of the tech world.

7PM Show | 8:30PM Party

MOTHER KOFI:
THE TALE OF AN AFRICAN PRINCESS

Composed & Written by ALPHONSO HORNE
Directed by AWOYE TIMPO

Real-life Ghanaian princess, activist and prophetess Laura Adorka Kofi started a movement that spawned a revolution. Get lost in this grand musical ceremony, led by a descendant of that revolution, to lift up and celebrate Mother Kofi’s legacy.

7PM Show | 8:30PM Party

WHAT A WORLD! WHAT A WORLD!

Written by ERIC MARLIN
Directed by ILANA KHANIN

Two actors break down and refashion an old melodrama over and over again until it, and they, are unrecognizable. Time falls away and gender slips as this knockabout comedy assembles itself into an expressionistic nesting doll of queer storytelling.

7PM Show | 8:30PM Party

DREAMS IN BLACK MAJOR

Created by NIA FARRELL
Directed by TALIA PAULETTE OLIVERAS

A celebration of dreams. A reclamation of space. Through five movements of music, ritual and dance, Black people take ownership of what may not traditionally have been theirs and build an Afro-future of radical liberation and actualization.

7PM Show | 8:30PM Party

CALL OUT CULTURE: OR, THE UNBEARABLE WHITENESS OF BEING

Written by KAELA MEI-SHING GARVIN

Queen Victoria. Lady Gaga. A confused panda in a club. Traversing both timelines and time zones, this autobiographical X-ray of race, assault and imperialism mines both horrors and humor when the personal meets the global.

7PM Show | 8:30PM Party

JLO AT THE DANCE CALL: SONGS AND STORIES WITH MICHELLE J. RODRIGUEZ AND FRIENDS

Created and Performed by MICHELLE J. RODRIGUEZ
Directed by CAITLIN SULLIVAN
Choreography WILLIAM CARLOS ANGULO

This show is part of the ANT Fest Lounge Series, which features ANT Fest Alums in concert! Reminiscent of a folksy Tina Turner or an indie Selena, Michelle J. Rodriguez invites some great friends (with even greater looks) to stir hearts and spirits in this energetic crop-top themed musical cabaret.

7PM Show | 8:30PM Party

DR. REES ZITI’S PAGEANT FOR A BETTER FUTURE

Created by THE BELLWETHER PROJECT & LAUREN WIMMER
Written by LAUREN WIMMER
Directed by JACK DENTINGER 

In the not-so-distant future, after decades of natural decline, we can still count on one splashy spectacle of glamour: Dr. Rees Ziti’s Pageant for a Better Future. Beauty contestants compete to determine who deserves to carry us forward in this zany variety-show-meets-harrowing-government-propaganda-machine. Sound familiar?

7PM Show | 8:30PM Party

WHITE FEMINIST

Written & Performed by LEE MINORA
Directed by ALICE YORKE

Becky goes to every march and uses all the hashtags — but is it enough? In this comedic one-hander, an outspoken talk show host embodies every well-meaning white feminist just trying to do her best, to brutal effect. #metoo #youtoo #mefirst

7PM Show | 8:30PM Party

LEGAL TENDER

Created by ANTIGRAVITY PERFORMANCE PROJECT
Written by KYLE DACUYAN
Co-Directed by FRANCESCA MONTANILE LYONS & MICHAEL T. WILLIAMS
Choreography ANDALYN YOUNG

A decolonized, queer dreamscape made up of poems and movement; a cross-country astral trip through small-town gay bars and newsrooms; a series of guided meditations on hustling, schlock and the breaking points of reality.

7PM Show | 8:30PM Party

DREAM HOU$E

Written by ELIANA PIPES
Directed by CRISTINA ANGELES

Two Latinx sisters seize an opportunity to capitalize on their “changing neighborhood” by appearing on an HGTV-style reality show, unprepared for the show’s surreal left-turn through ancestry, capitalism and identity. What is the cost of progress in America? And is cashing in always selling out?

7PM Show | 8:30PM Party

DEEPALI GUPTA IS A MANIC PIXIE DREAM GHOST

Created & Performed by DEEPALI GUPTA

This show is part of the ANT Fest Lounge Series, which features ANT Fest Alums in concert! A cabaret retrospective of a tortured genius who destroyed herself for her art, performed by the artist herself. DEEPALI GUPTA is just dying to sing for you.

7PM Show | 8:30PM Party

THE WAGGING CRAZE

Written, Composed & Performed by JOSEPH WHITE
Directed by ANNE CECELIA DEMELO

Is it a wagging dog? Or a finger? Or something… else? This outlandish historical fiction turned electro-pop-opera leaps down a dizzying rabbit hole of masculinity and spiritual awakening and traces the bizarre journey of a mysterious male bonding ritual that plunged America into a frenzy of chaos and decadence. Find out what wagging is all about.

7PM Show | 8:30PM Party

SHOWGASM. ANT FEST EDITION

With NATALIE WALKER & Crew

Twitter Empress NATALIE WALKER guest hosts our untamed monthly variety-show-meets -party, introducing us to her who’s-who of the weird and wonderful — from comedy to burlesque and everything (and anything) in between.

8PM Foreplay | 9:00PM ‘Gasm

VIRGO STAR

Written & Directed by GIAN MARCO LO FORTE
Written & Production Design by PHILIP TREVIÑO
Choreography DANIEL DIAZ, BETH GRACZYK, EFFY GREY, ANABELLA LENZU

Queering the cinematic tropes of the American Western, this kinetic ride through the Cowboy myth combines choreography and live video into one fluid, hilarious and heartfelt evening. You’ve never seen the west this wild.

7PM Show | 8:30PM Party

AUNTIE VANYA

Written & Created by BRE NORTHRUP
Directed by ALEX KEEGAN

A queer scavenging of Chekhov’s classic like you’ve never seen, diving right into the trenches of trans fetishization, the male gaze and queer body politics. Can “inclusivity” tip over into objectification? Will Yelena ever be more than just a body? It’s so hard being pretty.

7PM Show | 8:30PM Party

WILLA 

Created & Performed by BILLY SIMONE BAND
Based on a story by STEPHEN KING
Music by NATHAN SKETHWAY
Lyrics & Book by ABIGAIL ROSE & NATHAN SKETHWAY
Directed by NATHAN SKETHWAY

A train derails in the foggy mountains of Wyoming and its passengers wait in the desolate train station, hoping to be rescued. But Willa has gone missing in the night. A folk-rock campfire story about love, uncertainty and the things we can only find in the dark of night.

7PM Show | 8:30PM Party

100 PEOPLE IN A ROOM

Created & Hosted by ZACH ZIMMERMAN

Inspired by a certain pop star’s legendary/unhinged press tour, ZACH ZIMMERMAN hosts an evening of comedy, magic, drag and games for his own room of 100 people, imploring each to look around and discover: who believes in you?

7PM Show | 8:30PM Party

THIS IS NOT A REQUIEM

Created & Performed by JILLIAN WALKER

This show is part of the ANT Fest Lounge Series, which features ANT Fest Alums in concert! Wigs. Lip quivers. Sweat. Go beyond the illusion with JILLIAN WALKER to remember Whitney Houston as she may (or may not) have wanted.

7PM Show | 8:30PM Party

ANNIE ASPEN’S MUSICAL SPACE SPECTACULAR!

Created by LAURA GALINDO
Directed by RENEE YEONG & TALIA OLIVERAS
Choreography CLAUDIA THIEDMANN

Annie heads up to the moon and senses a problem with her spaceship; Laura awakens in the night and knows something is wrong with her own body. Through swirling synths and hypnotic melodies, this pop-rock dream follows both women as they stare down the necessity of healing and wonder how to even begin.

7PM Show | 8:30PM Party

I LOVE WHITE MEN

Created & Performed by SIM YAN YING
Developed with & Directed by RENEE YEONG
Developed with & Dramaturgy by NICHOLAS CHAN

After realizing she spent three years on Tinder swiping right on exclusively white men, a young Singaporean woman found herself plagued with one simple question: Why??? In this auto-fictional stand-up drama, YY takes us through her investigative journey through white worship and postcolonial baggage, attempting to uncover how we can work through our own problematic desires.

7PM Show | 8:30PM Party

[WAVE EMOJI] 

Written by NAZARETH HASSAN
Directed by MIRANDA HAYMON

A resilient speaker dies in a catastrophic tsunami over and over. This bracing and meditative epic turns the finality of death prismatic, and eventually choral. Cathartic redemption, on repeat.

7PM Show | 8:30PM Party

DEATHBED EDITION

Words & Music by JULIAN HORNIK
Directed & Co-Conceived by RORY PELSUE

When word spread that American icon Walt Whitman had fallen ill, The New York Times dispatched a reporter to keep a bedside vigil. Discover what he found in this pop-folk fantasia on sex, death and a queer life lived fully.

7PM Show | 8:30PM Party

AN INCOMPLETE LIST OF ALL THE THINGS I’M GOING TO MISS WHEN THE WORLD IS NO LONGER:

Book, Music, Lyrics, Sound Design
& Music Direction DANTE GREEN
Additional Music & Lyrics MARLEE GORDON & LYELL HINTZ
Directed by GARRETT ALLEN

The world is ending and you’re invited to the last sh*tshow EVER. It’s an indie-pop rager celebrating the delights and deceptions of existing, and it’s the last one we’ve got. Why not go out with a bang?

7PM Show | 8:30PM Party

AN EVENING WITH STARR BUSBY & JEROME ELLIS

Performed by STARR BUSBY & JEROME ELLIS

This show is part of the ANT Fest Lounge Series, which features ANT Fest Alums in concert! Join composers STARR BUSBY and JEROME ELLIS as they share their soulful and stirring take on gospel music and psalms.

7PM Show | 8:30PM Party

FIND HIM

Created & Performed by DYLAN GUERRA
Directed by LAURA DUPPER

Late one night, a guy told Dylan he wanted to disappear; the very next day he did. In this not-quite-podcast but Definitely True Crime, Dylan leads us through his obsessive (and obsessively gay) deep dive for truth. Honestly, Sarah Koenig could never.

7PM Show | 8:30PM Party

REST IN PEACE, CIRCUIT CITY: SONGS ‘N’ SPELLS FROM THE NEON COVEN

Created & Performed by THE NEON COVEN:
ANDREW BARRET COX, MARK MAURIELLO, SHIRA MILIKOWSKY

For one night only, frenetic, leather-clad glam-rockers THE NEON COVEN will summon the most insane singers they know to scream their faces off in an explosive and cathartic blaze of glittery glory.

7PM Show | 8:30PM Party

TOGETHER AT LAST

Co-Created & Performed by SPIKE EINBINDER & AMY ZIMMER

Elaborate slapstick meets psycho-thriller in this dizzying array of vignettes showcasing the most romantic, obsessive and eccentric duos you never knew you wanted, and definitely didn’t know you needed.

7PM Show | 8:30PM Party

SHOWGASM. ANT FEST EDITION

With BOWEN YANG & Crew

Comedy & culture maven BOWEN YANG guest hosts our untamed monthly variety-show-meets-party, introducing us to his who’s-who of the weird and wonderful — from comedy to burlesque and everything (and anything) in between.

8PM Foreplay | 9:00PM ‘Gasm