“Me and Not Me”
Presented at UCLA WACD Undergraduate Senior Capstones
“Me and Not Me”
by Quinn Wynacht
One definition of queer classifies the word as a verb, “to spoil or ruin”.
“Me and Not Me” embodies the daily experience of queer performance. Queer people defy the hegemonic standard of society and are thus placed on a pedestal of increased attention. This high level of surveillance serves as a theoretical stage on which we are constant performers. Reclaiming space on the physical stage as an unapologetic f*ggot is to queer (or ruin) the avenue of control and reject submission. Working with the writing of José Estéban Muñoz on disidentification, the “pleasure and pain” of the queer experience is explored. This negotiation between performing and subverting serves as a site of survival and self-creation, identifying aspects of one’s self while simultaneously hiding and distancing oneself from that exact identity, “me and not me”.
Credits:
Choreography by Quinn Wynacht
Cast: Bela Chauhan, Thomas J. Foster, Marielle Gutierrez-Zubire, Mikayla Knestrick, Nicholas Seyfried, and Quinn Wynacht
Lighting Design by Arsenio Apillanes
Music: 24hr Dog by FKA Twigs
Sound Design by Alik Gennetian Shehadeh, and Desi Randall
Styling by Cast, Lianne Calvo, and Gage Garduno