Hot Peaches was a gay political

theatre company Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

that would put on plays, active from the 1970s-1990s. Hot Peaches was founded by Jimmy Camicia in 1972, who encountered a group of

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses Drag (entertainment), drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate Femininity, female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have ...

s and began writing work for them to perform. Their work has been described as "political camp, dominated by drag".

Notable members

* Marsha P. Johnson, a prominent

gay liberation The gay liberation movement was a social and political movement of the late 1960s through the mid-1980s in the Western world, that urged lesbians and gay men to engage in radical direct action, and to counter societal shame with gay pride.Hoff ...

activist throughout the late 20th century, performed with the troupe starting in 1972 through to the early 90s. 27:15 *

Peggy Shaw Peggy Shaw (born July 27, 1944) is an American actor, writer, and producer living in New York City. She is a founding member of the Split Britches and WOW Cafe Theatre, and is a recipient of several Obie Awards, including two for Best Actress f ...

performed with the troupe through the first half of the 1970s as one of only three women at the time. She took on a prestigious role in the drag theater sphere after Hot Peaches crossed paths with the Spiderwomen during their 1978 tour stop in Berlin. This encounter was formative for both the troupe and herself, as she went on to become a part of Spiderwomen, and then co-founded

Split Britches Split Britches is an American performance troupe that has been producing work internationally since 1980. Theater scholar Sue Ellen Case asserts that the group's work "has defined the issues and terms of academic writing on lesbian theater, Butch a ...

in 1981 with Spiderwomen member

Lois Weaver Lois Weaver (born October 26, 1949, Roanoke, Virginia) is a Guggenheim Fellowship, Guggenheim-winning American artist, activist, writer, director, and Professor of Contemporary Performance at Queen Mary University of London. She is currently a W ...

. *

Bette Bourne Bette Bourne (; born Peter Bourne; 22 September 1939 – 23 August 2024) was a British actor, drag queen, and activist. His theatrical career spanned six decades. He came to prominence in the mid-1970s when he adopted the name "Bette" and a rad ...

was only a member for a year after experiencing his first Hot Peaches performance, ''The Heat,'' in 1974, though his time with the troupe influenced his creation of a similar, London-based group, Bloolips. * Ned Asta, a member of the Lavender Hill commune in Ithaca, New York, and illustrator of gay novelist Larry Mitchell's cult classic, ''The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions'', toured with Hot Peaches during the late 1970s.

Troupe culture

While the group's main objective was performance, Hot Peaches' primary function was to provide a nurturing queer community, and a platform for members self-expression. Camicia has been quoted as saying "We're not actors, we're entertainers. Rather than becoming the script, the script becomes us." The impact of the community on its members also included interactions with fellow drag performance groups and queer revolutionaries. Jimmy Camicia and

were influenced by a conversation on feminism with Mallory Jones, sister of

Kate Millett Katherine Murray Millett (September 14, 1934 – September 6, 2017) was an American feminist writer, educator, artist, and activist. She attended the University of Oxford and was the first American woman to be awarded a degree with first-clas ...

, and thus instituted feminist messages into their performances. The early work of the company often created their performances around the fashion and outfits its performers wanted to wear. These outfits were often ostentatious, sparkling glam outfits, which included platform boots, glitter, tinsel and feather boas. The vibrancy of the troupe's costumes became a defining moment during their European tour stop in Berlin in 1978, when they lent their wardrobe to the

Spiderwoman Theater Spiderwoman Theater is an Indigenous women's performance troupe that blends traditional art forms with Western theater. Named after Spider Grandmother from Hopi mythology, it is the longest running Indigenous theatre company in the United Sta ...

, whose luggage had been lost during travel. The two groups had conflicting styles. According to

, the Spiderwomen were a feminist troupe devoted to "deconstructing the feminist image," while Hot Peaches' wardrobe consisted of "excessive femininity".

References

External links

Hot Peaches perform "Let Your Yin and Yang Hang Out"
at Theater for The New City, NYC, 1991
"Climb Every Mountain"
sung by Marsha P. Johnson and the troupe at the Harvest Moon Cabaret, Theater for the New City, NYC, 1990
Hot Peaches Records
Fales Library and Special Collections at New York University Special Collections {{Authority control 20th-century theatre Drag groups Defunct theatre companies in New York City

Notable members

Troupe culture

See also

References

External links