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Erin Markey (born 1981) is an American writer, comedian, and performance artist based in New York City. Markey's work combines elements of cabaret theater and comedy and often incorporates stories of their childhood in the Midwest. ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' has described Markey variously as "hilariously sociopathic" and as having "a cult following as an alt-cabaret star with swaggering confidence and off-kilter sense of humor."


Early life and career beginnings

Markey was born in Michigan in 1981. They were raised Catholic. Their father was a marketer in telecommunications and their mother was a medical assistant. In high school, Markey flirted with being a "Bible Belt Christian," due to the influence of friends and their sense that " it felt like really impassioned, relatively speaking, to Catholicism." In high school, Markey informed their parents that they wanted to become a performer, rather than a veterinarian, which made their mother "really mad." Markey studied performance at the
University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
, taking a class taught by well-known performance artist Holly Hughes. After college, Markey worked for five months at a
strip club A strip club (also known as a strip joint, striptease bar, peeler bar, gentlemen's club, among others) is a venue where strippers provide adult entertainment, predominantly in the form of striptease and other erotic dances including lap dances. St ...
, an experience that, according to a profile in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', was "helpful in developing her icconfidence and stage presence." Markey drew upon this experience in several performance works. Markey has described, in an interview published in ''
Bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechan ...
'', their self-imposed separation from their family after they came out as gay, a period they described as a "wonderful break of me being able to just develop artistically outside the bounds of me feeling as accountable to them." In the same interview, Markey described their misgivings and anxieties about their family seeing their work, which draws upon their family life. Markey explained: "It's not exactly dirty laundry, but just things that feel private are like, being made into a show where tons of people are watching it."


Career

Markey has stated that they consider alt-cabaret performer
Bridget Everett Bridget Everett (born April 21, 1972) is an American comedian, actress, singer, writer, and cabaret performer. She began her career appearing and co-writing alongside Michael Patrick King the Off-Broadway musical comedy ''At Least It's Pink: A ...
a "possible career model" for her. Describing their troubles writing an accurate description of their career, Markey said that the "most truthful" description of what they do is "Erin Markey makes stuff for stage and video that has music in it." In 2010, Markey's musical show ''Puppy Love: A Stripper's Tail'' was produced at
Performance Space 122 Performance Space New York, formerly known as Performance Space 122 or P.S. 122, is a non-profit arts organization founded in 1980 in the East Village of Manhattan in an abandoned public school building. Origin The former elementary school, Pub ...
in New York City. Based on Markey's experiences working as a stripper after college, ''Puppy Love'' was praised as "a must-see tale/tail for all you ladies and gents (but mostly ladies) who work in the gray area between theater and erotic arts in New York. It's also worth seeing if you don't work in that lovely, glistening niche of the alternative entertainment world."
Michelle Tea Michelle Tea (born Michelle Tomasik, 1971) is an American author, poet, and literary arts organizer whose autobiographical works explore queer culture, feminism, race, class, sex work, and other topics. She is originally from Chelsea, Massachuse ...
wrote favorably of ''Puppy Love'', calling it "innovative" due to its unusual treatment on the topic and also praised Markey's voice. In 2013, Markey starred in Progressive Theatre Workshop's ''God Hates This Show: Shirley Phelps-Roper in Concert, Live From Hell'', a musical written and directed by John J. Caswell, Jr. that satirized
Westboro Baptist Church The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is an American unaffiliated Primitive Baptists, Primitive Baptist church in Topeka, Kansas, that was founded in 1955 by pastor Fred Phelps. It is widely considered a hate group and a cult, and is known for Prot ...
. Markey played
Shirley Phelps-Roper Shirley Lynn Phelps-Roper ( Phelps; born October 31, 1957) is an American lawyer and political activist. She was the lead spokesperson of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, an organization that protests against homosexuality conduc ...
, daughter of
Fred Phelps Fred Waldron Phelps Sr. (November 13, 1929 – March 19, 2014) was an American Minister (Christianity), minister and Disbarment, disbarred lawyer who served as the pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church, worked as a civil rights attorney, ...
, the founder of Westboro Baptist Church. In the play, Phelps-Roper has died and gone to hell and sings songs expressing the hateful beliefs of the church. As one account described their performance, " cked by a full rock band, Markey as Phelps-Roper sings such 'hits' as 'Death in Your Window,' a parody of Melissa Etheridge's 'Come to My Window,' and 'Stinky Freak,' known in non-heelish circles as 'Super Freak.' She's icaccompanied by a trio of backup singers and dancers in full-on cabaret mode." From 2013 to 2014, Markey's show ''Erin Markey'' ran at
Joe's Pub Joe's Pub, one of the six performance spaces within The Public Theater, is a music venue and restaurant that hosts live performances across genres and arts, ranging from cabaret to modern dance to world music. It is located at 425 Lafayette Str ...
. Jarrett Earnest, writing about the show, observed that "Markey plays 'Erin Markey' as an outsized persona through autobiographical sketches interlaced with musical numbers—a tried and true nightclub strategy. The songs, usually contemporary pop songs, are performed with an intensity that unravels them." Asked about their work in ''Erin Markey,'' Markey explained, "It's funny to be making this show right now where I'm supposed to be Erin Markey the whole time because I feel like I work best when I'm in character. That's when I'm most honest. .... I had trouble writing a bio recently because I was like, 'I don't want to be called a performance artist. I don't wanna be called a comedian, I don't want to be called an actor, or a singer or a cabaret artist,' because none of those things seem to really describe who I am. In 2015, Markey's play ''Deleted Scenes from Fun Home'', based on the Broadway adaptation
Alison Bechdel Alison Bechdel ( ; born September 10, 1960) is an American cartoonist. Originally known for the long-running comic strip ''Dykes to Watch Out For'', she came to critical and commercial success in 2006 with her Graphic novel, graphic memoir ''Fun ...
's graphic novel ''Fun Home'', was produced at the Duplex Cabaret Theatre in New York City. A one-person show written by and starring Markey, the show purported to present deleted scenes from the Broadway musical ''
Fun Home ''Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic'' is a 2006 graphic memoir by the American cartoonist Alison Bechdel, author of the comic strip '' Dykes to Watch Out For''. It chronicles the author's childhood and youth in rural Pennsylvania, United States, ...
''. Asked about the inspiration for ''Deleted Scenes from Fun Home'', Markey described how they became obsessed with the score to the Broadway musical ''
Fun Home ''Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic'' is a 2006 graphic memoir by the American cartoonist Alison Bechdel, author of the comic strip '' Dykes to Watch Out For''. It chronicles the author's childhood and youth in rural Pennsylvania, United States, ...
'', saying that "for largely unnameable or unknowable reasons, I was activated in a strange way that I had no control over." On January 13, 2016, Markey's show ''A Ride on the Irish Cream'', which was funded in part by an
Indiegogo Indiegogo is an American crowdfunding website founded in 2008 by Danae Ringelmann, Slava Rubin, and Eric Schell. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, California. The site is one of the first sites to offer crowd funding. Indiegogo allows peo ...
campaign, premiered at the Abrons Arts Center of the
Henry Street Settlement The Henry Street Settlement is a not-for-profit social service agency on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City that provides social services, arts programs and health care services to New Yorkers of all ages. It was founded under the ...
. The show has been described as "a musical anchored inside the memory of a Michigan backyard on the bank of the Kawkawlin River. A live band and original score become the space for the thrills and terrors of a relationship between Reagan (Markey), a vainglorious self-made girl, and Irish Cream ( Becca Blackwell), her family's pontoon boat/horse. They are in love, but when their relationship is tested by dust ruffles, sex for money, severe T-storms, and a secret cellar, the only way to stay together is to remember all the parts of themselves their bodies tried to forget." In 2019, Markey appeared in the third season of the HBO series ''
High Maintenance ''High Maintenance'' is an American anthology comedy-drama television and web series created by ex-husband and wife team Ben Sinclair and Katja Blichfeld. The show follows The Guy, a cannabis courier (played by Sinclair), as he delivers his p ...
'', playing the character Cori. ''
The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...
'' described their performance as a "lived-in depiction of blue-collar crunchiness."


Personal life

For several years, Markey was in a long-term relationship with performance artist Becca Blackwell, with whom Markey has had numerous artistic collaborations. In November 2022, Markey married film producer Gwen Biali

who worked as a Unit Production Manager on ''
High Maintenance ''High Maintenance'' is an American anthology comedy-drama television and web series created by ex-husband and wife team Ben Sinclair and Katja Blichfeld. The show follows The Guy, a cannabis courier (played by Sinclair), as he delivers his p ...
.''


References


External links


Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Markey, Erin 1981 births Living people American performance artists Performance art in New York City University of Michigan alumni 21st-century American women artists People from Brooklyn