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The Hot Peaches were a flamboyant
communal theatrical troupe that was in every way a product of the counter
culture of the 1960s. Founded
by Jimmy Camicia and Ian McKay in 1972 and influenced by John Vaccaro's
Play-House of the Ridiculous and Charles Ludlam's Ridiculous Theatrical
Company, the every-rotating cast of characters was capable of critical
acclaim and critical failure.
When the 70s began, Camicia
and McKay met in a London bar called "By Appointment", became
lovers, lived in Morocco, Rome, and Berlin. They were not involved in
theater but worked in a bar "very much like in the film Cabaret."
At this unnamed bar, transvestites congregated at about five or six in
the morning and Camicia and McKay noticed the theatrical power of drag.
Camicia says, "Here
were people who were bigger than people. They were not only impersonating
women, but movie stars--Raquel Welch, Marilyn Monroe."
He saw that transvestitism
brought a new perspective on the theatrical predicament of the homosexual
and heterosexual alike. The flamboyant could be both an outlet for the
marginalized and an inlet for the mainstream.
The pair returned to New York
and quickly ingraned themselves with the East village theatre scene. When
the Angels of Light (Hibiscus of The Cockettes, Angel Jack) came to town
in all their confusing flamboyancy, Camicia was inspired to create a similar
group in New York.
"Hanging out in the
East VIllage, everyone was real hot to do a show. It was the natural
thing to follow up the Angel's of Light show. It's like going to the
circus. The circus goes away and all these little kids have these little
circuses in their backyards."
So with their first show The
Wonderful World of U.S. performed in a friend's loft apartment, the
Hot Peaches were born. Camica was almost exclusively the writer, while
McKay became leading actor. The two often shared directing duties, but
the group never lost its flavor of a "bunch of people hanging around
who decided to do a show." Though this gave the Hot Peaches a sense
of reality, honesty, and freshness, though it made personal drama easy.
Though members have gone on
to create new groups and new groundbreaking work, the Hot Peaches have
been dissolved since 1979.
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