Close Your Legs, Honey
Created By: Shamus Hunter McCarty and Hannah Parke
Photo by: Shamus Hunter McCarty
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She's plucked, she's sucked, and she's tucked. Beauty has met it's match, or has it? Join Honey and her foul-mouthed Mama as they take on an army of pint-sized glamazons for Grand Supreme glory.
When: Monday, February 12th at 7PM Where: Plays & Players, 1714 Delancey St, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 Cost: Free, donations accepted Close Your Legs, Honey, written and directed by Hannah Parke and Shamus Hunter McCarty shows how far parents go to reach perfection in the high-glitz culture of American Southern beauty pageants. Will Honey have what it takes to earn the crown and the chance to meet her idol Dolly Parton? Mama say a prayer! Cast: Katherine Perry, Nicholas Scheppard, Minou Pourshariati, Jenna Kuerzi, Iman Aaliyah, Joy Lynn Pringle-Bato, Amanda Jill Robinson For tickets and more information, click here! |
Interview with Shamus Hunter McCarty & Hannah Parke,
the creators of Close Your Legs, Honey:
ReVamp Collective: What inspired you to create this show?
Shamus Hunter McCarty: This show was initially inspired by our mutual experience with disordered eating. Hannah is a true Southerner and we found the world was full of characters we enjoyed exploring. We originally conceived it as a one woman show with talking hamburger puppets and a blow up pool full of baked beans...it's changed a lot.
ReVamp Collective: Do you relate to one of the characters in the show? If so, who and why?
Shamus Hunter McCarty: Mama is my heart and soul. I love my mom. I probably love your mom. My mom has a two year degree, a long history of combating sexism and a fantastic career. Family means a lot to me, probably because mine has been through the ringer. Any story about a family trying to do right by the next generation and failing because of personal limitation really gets me, I think it shows the limits of human capacity.
Shamus Hunter McCarty: This show was initially inspired by our mutual experience with disordered eating. Hannah is a true Southerner and we found the world was full of characters we enjoyed exploring. We originally conceived it as a one woman show with talking hamburger puppets and a blow up pool full of baked beans...it's changed a lot.
ReVamp Collective: Do you relate to one of the characters in the show? If so, who and why?
Shamus Hunter McCarty: Mama is my heart and soul. I love my mom. I probably love your mom. My mom has a two year degree, a long history of combating sexism and a fantastic career. Family means a lot to me, probably because mine has been through the ringer. Any story about a family trying to do right by the next generation and failing because of personal limitation really gets me, I think it shows the limits of human capacity.
ReVamp Collective: What is your history with beauty pageants? With stage mothers?
Shamus Hunter McCarty: When I was child, my sister and I would hold pageants with her Barbie dolls. I say her Barbie dolls because we lived in a heteronormative house and so the one and only doll I owned, Emma Bunton from the Spice Girls, was kept in her box on a shelf. This pageants were all day affairs. They included costume changes, talent competitions, randomly selected interview questions and elaborate score sheets. The routines were choreographed and my sister and I would spend hours debating who moved a Barbie doll around best while music played on our top of the line 5-CD Player.
My parents are the opposite of stage parents. With the exception of the one time my mother was convinced me talking to her co-worker's cousin about his stint in Phantom and Spiderman Turn of the Dark, they are happy to be audience members. I'm not sure they really get theatre, we certainly don't process art in the same way but I think they come so they can see a room of people applaud my work at the end. Not a lot of careers have that built-in public affirmation when you go to visit your child at work.
ReVamp Collective: If Honey could tell the audience one thing before they come to the show, what would that be?
Shamus Hunter McCarty: There are a lot of stories about Honey and her family in the play...they are all true.
Shamus Hunter McCarty: When I was child, my sister and I would hold pageants with her Barbie dolls. I say her Barbie dolls because we lived in a heteronormative house and so the one and only doll I owned, Emma Bunton from the Spice Girls, was kept in her box on a shelf. This pageants were all day affairs. They included costume changes, talent competitions, randomly selected interview questions and elaborate score sheets. The routines were choreographed and my sister and I would spend hours debating who moved a Barbie doll around best while music played on our top of the line 5-CD Player.
My parents are the opposite of stage parents. With the exception of the one time my mother was convinced me talking to her co-worker's cousin about his stint in Phantom and Spiderman Turn of the Dark, they are happy to be audience members. I'm not sure they really get theatre, we certainly don't process art in the same way but I think they come so they can see a room of people applaud my work at the end. Not a lot of careers have that built-in public affirmation when you go to visit your child at work.
ReVamp Collective: If Honey could tell the audience one thing before they come to the show, what would that be?
Shamus Hunter McCarty: There are a lot of stories about Honey and her family in the play...they are all true.
Photo by: Shamus Hunter McCarty
