PORTLAND – On the heels of successful runs in New York and Los Angeles, Siouxsie Q is headed to Portland this week to perform her critically acclaimed mermaid musical, Fish Girl. Q will take the stage as part of the “Come Inside” sex and culture theater festival, which has its opening gala tonight.
Q described the musical as a long-term project which brewed in her head for years before she finally brought it to the stage.
“I’ve been working on this play throughout my entire career in the adult industry,” said Q. “The first songs came to me nearly the same week I first had sex for money. While the songs and the story have stayed essentially the same, the nuances of the work have grown by leaps and bounds as my career and my relationship to the sex industry has evolved.”
A musical which BroadwayWorld.com described as being “on the cutting edge of fantasy,” Fish Girl tells the story of an “enchanted mermaid plucked from the sea and doomed to sing for her supper,” as Q put it in a statement announcing the Portland run of the show. “This unconventional fairy tale sings the story of a lovestruck tourist who falls into the deep end when he meets the ‘girl’ of his dreams.”
Q further described the original production as a “fully-realized dream on stage” created in conjunction with Sean Andries, the director of The Circus Project in Portland. Q also said the musical “serves as an allegory for our current state of affairs and exposes the deeply personal stakes of sexual politics.”
“We workshopped and premiered the show at Portland’s Fertile Grounds Festival in 2012, and we are so pleased to bring this re-vamped version back to where it was born,” Q said. “Additionally, we have been blessed with the opportunity to collaborate with my longtime friend, Penthouse Pet, and fellow member of the APAC Board of Directors, Olive Glass, who has released a brand-new set of illustrations that will be premiered on an antique slide projector as part of the show.”
Fish Girl was honored with the “Best of The Fest” Award at the 2013 San Francisco Fringe festival and received warm praise from Bay Area media outlets like the San Francisco Chronicle and SF Weekly.
For its Portland run, Fish Girl will be staged at the Coho Theater from October 4-7. Pre-sale tickets can be purchased here.
