User:Mackley25/Hot Peaches

Source 1: Betty Bourne was another notable member of the company, who toured with Hot Peaches thought Europe for a season, then created a new group called Bloolips, which has a close history with Hot Peaches. categorized as "gay theatre" which operated as a sub-genre of performance through the 60s, 70s and onward. At the center of the scene was the Hot Peaches, who gained a lot of notoriety based on connections in the Queer community. the company and its contemporaries are described as "loosely related as drag/transvestite/radical camp theatre." the sets and costumes were described as having "aspects of outrageousness, outlandish costumes and sets, movie references, puns, intentionally "bad" acting and camp to create highly theatrical and stylized performances. the article cites these specific attributes as identifiers for gay theater, and thus serve as Hot Peaches' qualifications- their incorporation of political and social commentary into expositions of queer culture and group/personal identity through performance.

Source 2: Hot peaches was among the early wave of "queer theater companies", and incorporated cultural practices of both "women's theater and drag show traditions." another notable member who was active in the gay theater space was Peggy Shaw. this article attaches a location for Bloolips- London. this source characterizes the Hot Peaches as a drag company, who was "very influential," and performed through the first half of the 70's in NYC.

Source 3: cultural diffusion among groups- spiderwoman was touring in Berlin when their costumes got lost and they borrowed those of Hot Peaches- who had an aeshetic cenetered around "feather boas and platform shoes." this diffusion of style and personality was desribed by a member when they said "we secretly knew we would never be the same again" (weaver). Peggy shaw joined the Spiderwoman in 1978, and developed a strong relationship with Lois Weaver (lesbian and founder of Split Britches in 1981 with Shaw, after leaving spiderwoman)

Source 4: again about Shaw and Weaver, and the context of them meeting in 1979. the article describes Hot Peaches as "a gay theatrical company in the ridiculous tradition, and Weaver was touring with Spiderwoman, a feminist troupe devoted to 'deconstructing the feminine image." then goes on to describe the Berlin lost luggage fiasco. this article does, however, offer more nuance of Berlin, explaining that Spiderwoman was devoted to "deconstructing the feminine image," and Hot Peaches donned them in "excessive femininity" which prompted the members of the group to undergo "a personal transformation" (Weaver). this exchange of gender expression prompted deeply meaningful performances that tackled the heteronormative gendering of desire and gaze (page 5).

Source 5: this article states that "theater was secondary to Hot Peaches," since the primary purpose for the troupe was to provide a space for "street queens" of the Lower East Side of Manhattan to feel a sense of community. the article describes its purpose as a place where "gender outcasts could proclaim 'this is who i am. ain't it hot?'" the article also explains the qualifications for who is considered a peach-