BabyLove

Visit babylovetheplay.com!

“Comically provocative! ... revelatory, discomfiting, and a comfort to other new parents….The uninhibited Clifford delves into some taboo topics with uncommon frankness and disarming charm.  It’s daringly personal and, in Clifford’s unabashedly generous performance, as engaging as it is provocative.”
- San Francisco Chronicle

“An extremely gifted talent!  One of the most original new voices to come out of New York City in years!   Her warmth, intelligence and killer wit …bring out the humanity in even the most outrageous situations.”
                               -Catherine Burns, Artistic Director, THE MOTH

Special (day after) Mother's Day performance!
at Galapagos in Williamsburg, Monday May 14th at 7:30/ only $7
http://www.galapagosartspace.com/events2.html

"If I were a mom, the perfect Mother's Day present would be a fat joint
of homegrown and two tickets to BabyLove."
--Neal Pollack, author of Alternadad

WINNER!!!  Audience Award Frigid New York
Best of Fringe!!!  2006 San Francisco Fringe Festival
and I just got  a 2007 NYFA fellowship!

Written and performed by Christen Clifford
Directed by and developed with Julie Kramer
Choreography: Julie Atlas Muz
Sound: Elizabeth Rhodes
Stage Manager: Emily Vartanian
Production Manager: Scout Durwood

ABOUT THE SHOW: From trying to conceive to masturbating with an infant, from the humiliations of postpartum sex to the eroticism of breastfeeding: in Clifford’s true stories of sex and motherhood she exposes the deepest secrets with refreshing candor and humor; by exploring the intimate, she illuminates the universal.  A solo play with choreography by burlesque star Julie Atlas Muz and directed by Julie Kramer (Best of Fringe for Give Me Shelter, It’s a Hit!), BabyLove had its world premier in Ljubljana, Slovenia and was SOLD OUT and won BEST OF FRINGE at The San Francisco Fringe Festival in 2006.

ABOUT CHRISTEN CLIFFORD: Clifford has performed at Classic Stage Company, The Culture Project, and The Public Theatre. She has been a mainstage storyteller at The Moth. Her writing has been published in Salon.com, Nerve.com, The New York Press, and Everything You Know About Sex Is Wrong (Disinfo).  She is a member of The Association for Research on Mothering as well as The Society for Scientific Study of Sexuality and is the winner of the 2006 New School MFA nonfiction writing competition.  www.christenclifford.com

BabyLove was developed with the Hourglass Group Solo Lab through grants from the LMCC and Time Warner.  Additional support from the Interart Theatre and New Georges.

PRAISE FOR BABYLOVE:

"Honest, hilarious, and completely revealing."
-Nerve.com

“Taking up big questions, erotic..highly anticipated.”
-SF WEEKLY

“BabyLove is the most important piece of feminist theatre since The Vagina Monologues.”
-kulturevermitterlin

“Smart, sexy and funny!  Clifford is a wonderful storyteller and she performs with such truth and authenticity that by the end everyone in the audience wants to be her little one.”
-Mladina (like the Eastern European Village Voice)

“Christen Clifford is a fabulous writer and performer! BabyLove goes to places about motherhood that few would dare explore. Speaking the unspeakable is one of my favorite art forms andChristen has the guts to put BabyLove onstage, outinganother one of society's dirty little secrets.”
-Betty Dodson, PhD, author of Sex for One

“Clifford's much-traveled "BabyLove" (it premiered last year in Ljubljana, Slovenia), seen Thursday at Exit on Taylor, deals with knotty (and naughty) issues at the other end of life's spectrum: maternal sexuality. As developed with director Julie Kramer, with comically provocative choreography by Julie Atlas Muz, the uninhibited Clifford delves into some taboo topics with uncommon frankness and disarming charm. Clifford presents herself as a woman who's always defined herself by her sexuality, "seeing the world through sex-colored glasses," suddenly confronted with prolonged postpartum pain, sexless monogamy and disturbing feelings of arousal while breast-feeding. Some of what she says is discomfiting; some, revelatory, and much may be a comfort to other new parents. It's also an exploration still in process (her son is now 3 years old), with Clifford still writing new endings for each show. It's daringly personal and, in Clifford's unabashedly generous performance, as engaging as it is provocative.”
-The San Francisco Chronicle (also  96 Hours Critic’s Choice)

“Whether you've had a baby or not, you can relate to the serious comedy in BabyLove. There is no wonder in my mind why it won Best of Fringe Awards. Fun, fun, fun, and don't worry guys, you'll love it too….She does justice to a topic that so many women deal with, but one that is never addressed due to the taboos surrounding sexuality in our society….An amazing, funny, touching show. ..this is one of the DON'T DARE MISS SHOWS of the 15th Annual Fringe Fest…. Frank, courageous and hilarious…. I laughed, cried, and felt exited that finally someone had the courage to speak up….as a father, I recognized myself in Clifford's presentation of her own experience…. The thought most outstanding is this: We, none of us, are alone. Thanks, Christen”
-Audience reviews from The San Francisco Fringe Festival Website

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