She’s back. And back again! Playwright and performance artist (and alumna…Class of 1977!) Holly Hughes presents The Dog and Pony Show, a hilarious one-person show about lesbians and their dogs. The performance takes place at 8 PM on Saturday, September 21, in the Nelda K. Balch Playhouse. There is no charge but reserving tickets is an option and encouraged for those with special needs or who are attending in partial fulfillment of course requirements. Reserved tickets will be held at the box office until 10 minutes prior to curtain at 8pm; tickets not picked up by that time will be made available to others who are interested. Call 269-337-7333 for ticket reservations and for more information. Hughes is a 2010 Guggenheim recipient and a professor at the University of Michigan School of Art & Design. She describes Dog and Pony as “a blend of autobiography, animal behavior and bald-faced lies…a poetic/comic meditation on the midlife crisis in the key of canine by the woman who drove Jesse Helms nuts. Or nuttier.” It will not be her first visit to campus. She performed her one-woman play “Preaching to the Perverted” on campus in 2000. That play was inspired by the 1990 revocation of grants that had been made to Hughes and three other artists by the National Endowment of the Arts. Hughes was an art major during her student years on campus (1973-77). she has won numerous awards for her work, including Kalamazoo College’s Distinguished Achievement Award (1995). The performance will be followed by a talk-back, book signing, and reception.

The difference between traditional theatre and performance art, she explains, is that the latter is more experimental, quasi-anarchistic, and rebellious. And that suits her perfectly. “If you’re really committed to change,” she said, “then you must be committed to being uncomfortable.”

The Dog and Pony Show is part of The Festival Playhouse Diversity Guest Artist Series. That program is committed to providing culturally diverse art free to the Greater Kalamazoo community. It is made possible primarily through funding from the Dorothy U. Dalton Enrichment Fund. Previous Guest Artist Series performances include Oni Faida Lampley in The Dark Kalamazoo, Lisa Kron in 2.5 Minute Ride, and Guillermo Goméz-Peña in The Return of Border Brujo.