Counter Culture (how I learned to beat a face and other make-up rituals) Sarah Graalman and CatFox

About This Show
After a childhood spent obsessively hoarding drugstore lipsticks in Oklahoma and playing an array of ‘saloon girls’ in theatre productions, SARAH GRAALMAN landed at the MAC counter at Macy’s on Brooklyn’s Fulton Mall. Unprepared, she was suddenly immersed in a career she’d never expected. In her 3 years working make-up counters in Brooklyn and, eventually, Harlem, Graalman worked along side artists who taught her how to ‘beat a face’, how to ‘lash’ anyone in under 5 minutes, and the importance of a strong brow. Counter Culture explores what a white girl learns about race through the practice of matching foundations to legions of women and men in the outer boroughs. As told through the prism of New York City, Graalman uncovers (using cover-up) shades of American culture that her pastoral childhood never prepared her for.
About the Artist
Sarah Graalman is a writer, performer, and make-up artist in NYC. Her essays have been published in This Land Press, where she’s written extensively about her life as a transplanted Okie. She has written and performed in over 30 original pieces throughout NYC, and was dubbed by New York Magazine as ‘a story-teller extraordinaire. Sarah co-wrote and co-starred in Destructo Snack, USA, which premiered here at Dixon Place, then went on to run successfully at Incubator Arts Project and The Silent Barn. She is also a beauty, commercial and editorial makeup artist. Her work has appeared in Cosmopolitan, New York Magazine, Paper, Glamour, ESPN, CN Traveler, and Martha Stewart Living. She collaborates with writers and theater-makers on projects, press-tours with politicians and authors, and paints face for creative and talented New Yorkers who do fancy things and need to look nice while doing it.
Saturday, Jun. 20 at 7:30pm
General Admission
$12 in advance
$15 at the door
Students / Seniors
$10
90 minutes
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Credits
Featuring
SarahGraalman
Catfox
Fil Vocasek
Joyal McNeil