Join The Austin Poetry Brothel & Infinite Monkey Theorem for an evening of sensual poetics, dance, music, and more.
Featuring local artists, the Austin Poetry Brothel is an immersive literary cabaret that celebrates sexuality & art. Our Poetry Whores will take the stage, weave in & out of conversations with you, and let you find them for a private reading - or a few.
*Lineup*
8:30 Doors
9-9:30 FOOLS
9:30 -11:30 Literary Cabaret
Poetry Whores | Datura | Gabino Iglesias | Megan DiBello
FOOLS: Scotty May (Bass) grew up outside Detroit; Jacob Miguel (vocals) and Chris Goranson (guitar) outside Chicago. Zach Whitchurch (drums). There's a grit; an anxious tension in the rock music from the rust belt with arguably the best punk heritage anywhere. Take a group of guys who spent 30 years of 6-month winters cultivating their musical tastes and then drop them in Austin, TX, and you get FOOLS.
Gabino Iglesias: Writer, professor, editor, and book reviewer. He is the author of ZERO SAINTS and COYOTE SONGS, which won the 2019 Wonderland Book Award for Best Novel and was nominated for both the Bram Stoker Award and the Locus Award. You can find him on Twitter at @Gabino_Iglesias.
Datura: Fronted by Austin-based singer-songwriter & soul-shaker Jessica Pyrdsa, is a piano-driven jazz & soul ensemble. Each set is unique, as a rotating cast of seasoned musicians accompany Datura on their own instruments, communicating through an alluring sound and creating a singular experience that pushes music's boundaries and fans expectations. Creating a collaborative environment evokes an appeal which crisscrosses genres and blurs the boundary between jazz, pop, soul and R&B.;
We are also partnering with Brown Burlesque & Typewriter Tarot to bring you both burlesque dance and star-aligned bliss.
Find on Instagram: @poetrybrothel_atx to meet more of our cast. 18+ show
::::::: SAFER SPACES NOTICE :::::::
Behave with beauty, connect with consent. The Poetry Brothel is a space for everyone to feel welcome. We have a zero tolerance policy for harassment, unwanted touch, homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, ableist, or ageist behavior. We are, by and large, a no-contact event: always ASK before touching anyone at our events. If someone is making you uncomfortable or harassing you, please speak to the Madame or event manager. They will believe you, and they will help.
A portion of ticket sales go to sex worker advocacy rights. Please see thepoetrybrothel.com to read more about which organizations we support.
ABOUT THE POETRY BROTHEL
Inspired by the turn-of-the-century brothels in New Orleans, Paris, and Buenos Aires, many of which functioned as permissive spaces where marginalized, fringe, and avant-garde artists could experiment and perform their work alongside sex workers or while also performing sex work, The Poetry Brothel strives to promote empowered sexuality practices and radically open artistic expression. At The Poetry Brothel, a “madam” presents a rotating cast of poets, artists, and artisans who operate within self-constructed characters and share their work through staged public performances, spontaneous immersive eruptions, and, most distinctly, as purveyors of poetic goods, services, and experiences in intimate spaces. Central to The Poetry Brothel experience is the creation of character, which for each artist serves as disguise and freeing device, enabling The Poetry Brothel to be a place of uninhibited creative expression in which artists and audience members alike can communicate more authentically.
Artists performing with the Brothel are women, men, folx, people of color, queer, straight, emerging, established, local, and international, and their alter-egos are faeries, sea creatures, witches, aliens, virgins, whores, and everything in between. Some of the artists within The Poetry Brothel universe perform sex work in their off-hours. Because not everyone can take the mask of being a “whore” off at the end of the night, The Poetry Brothel uses its platform to support sex workers and to educate audiences about the sex industry. Sex and poetry are two of the oldest professions - both feed the human need for intimacy, fantasy, and desire. By entwining these two essentially human elements into a seamless, immersive experience, The Poetry Brothel fosters innovative artistic expression and a culture of consent by exhibiting radical inclusion, consensual intimacy, conscious communication, transparent compensation, and the fundamental value of beauty in all its forms.