This story was created by Xtra's branded content team alongside Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, separate from Xtra's editorial staff.
Major cities exist across the globe that are home to sex-positive, progressively-minded venues that offer safe spaces for queers to express their sexualities without inhibition or fear of judgment. While Toronto has a handful of bathhouses and fuck-friendly bars that continue to survive despite relentless gentrification, the city remains devoid of the large-scale, sex-positive parties associated with cities like New York City, Paris, Amsterdam and Berlin.
Playwright ted witzel has been an artist-in-residence at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre since 2014 and hopes to make a dent in Toronto’s staid sex scene with his new project. The next instalment of his multi-part theatre series LULU — inspired by queer German playwright Frank Wedekind’s Lulu plays (Earth Spirit, Pandora’s Box) — returns to Buddies with a full-facility warehouse-style party in the vein of Berlin’s Berghain and Kit Kat clubs for one night during Pride Month. LULU v6 All The Fucks I Never Gave is a continuation of the experimental theatre series and is presented by witzel’s theatre company the red-light district.
The artist, who divides his time between Berlin and Toronto, hopes the event will give the local queer community the jump-start it desperately needs.
“Torontonians aren’t notoriously great at letting go and not giving a fuck,” witzel says. “People give a lot of fucks here and I wanted to create a night where people would feel free to step in and lean into an experience, like sex-forward. That doesn’t mean you have to be banging someone in the bathroom, although you could. Who am I to say you shouldn’t?”
With the lion’s share of Toronto’s nightlife scene aimed at providing men who have sex with men venues in which to socialize and hook up, All the Fucks I Never Gave is focused on providing a space for trans people and queers of every stripe a night of pure indulgence and inclusion.
LULU v6 All the Fucks I Never Gave
Friday, June 9, 2017
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander St, Toronto
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