Paradigm Shift

What if street harassment was a crime? In her multidisciplinary show, writer-performer Leah King examines the distinctly New York experience of the “holla” through four Brooklyn women contemplating a new anti-harassment law. A shy bike mechanic worries that the law will sabotage her ability to meet women; an open mic host and indie rocker explores sexuality in her music career; a poetic 50-something yoga teacher wonders if the days of “hollers” may be behind her; and a sex-blogging burlesque performer dishes on the law during her online talk show. King asks the audience: how do YOU holla?

Sections of the show will be performed and followed by an interactive panel discussion about our societal response to street harassment. For more information, check out http://canigetasmile.tumblr.com/

Can I Get a Smile? premiers Thursday September 16, 2010 at Littlefield (622 Degraw St, Brooklyn). Doors 7pm, Show 7:30pm

Leah King is a multidisciplinary performance artist and youth educator based in Brooklyn, NY, whose work focuses on women’s empowerment, afro-diasporic arts and multicultural identity.As a singer and dancer, Leah has performed with Brown Girls Burlesque, Black Rock Coalition Orchestra and Marc Jacobs, and at venues such as Bowery Poetry Club, Whitney Museum, BAM, B.B. King’s, Le Poisson Rouge, Santos and Galapagos. She has led arts workshops at Rikers Island, Manhattan JCC, Grassroots Media Coalition and numerous educational institutions.

Her one-woman show, Can I Get a Smile?, is funded in part by a grant from the NY Department of Cultural Affairs/Brooklyn Arts Council.