If you’re curious about those risqué signs around campus, you’re not the only one. In fact, you have proven their effectiveness. The Sex Workers’ Art Show is coming to campus on Monday, Feb. 12 at Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall at 7 p.m., and it guarantees to ring true to its name.

p. The Sex Workers’ Art Show is a cabaret-style production featuring nine performers who also happen to be employees or former employees of the sex industry. The artists present a live art exhibition that includes spoken word, burlesque and multimedia performances.

p. Sex-related issues and awareness of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender community are addressed in the show.
Student organizers Sean Barker and Virginia Walters, both seniors, are looking to spark discussion about sex-related issues on campus. In light of recent sexual assaults, Barker and Walters hope that the show will shed a positive light on relevant and pervasive issues.

p. Barker collaborated with junior Constance Sisk last year to bring the Sex Workers’ Art Show to campus for the first time. They were contacted through unsolicited e-mails from the Sex Workers’ Art Show founder, director and self-described “den mom” Annie Oakley, whose pseudonym is a nod to a female sharp shooter in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, circa 1885. According to Barker, the modern day Oakley (pictured at left) was surprised and impressed with the overwhelming feedback from the College community last year. After the show, students responded with supportive essays, letters and e-mails hailing the forum for the discussion that the show sparked.

p. The College was the first Virginia institution to host the show, but the performance was set up at the last minute. “The show was less organized last year … because we had a lot of hurdles to overcome. We wanted to bring it back with more promotion and better advertising,” Barker said.

p. Barker and Walters worked diligently this year to properly publicize the event and given the advance notice, they hope to fill PBK on Monday night.

p. Seven student organizations collaborated in sponsoring the event: Lambda Alliance, VOX, From the Margin, Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance, Initiative, Meridian Coffee House and Students for a Democratic Society.

p. Several professors are requiring students in their classes to attend the show. All students enrolled in Introduction to Women’s Studies and in music professor Sophia Serghi’s Performance Art Ensemble are among at least 100 students required to attend the show.

p. The appeal of the show is that it creates a forum for students to embrace the idea of sexual art forms and dismiss any qualms about the topic. “It’s a sex-positive event — pro-woman, pro-queer — and it brings sex issues to the forefront,” Barker said.

p. Barker noted that the question and answer session after the show last year particularly prompted discussion, and guarantees it will recur at this year’s show.

p. Be prepared for a performance that celebrates the lives of sex workers and highlights the artistry to be found in all realms of life, employment and sexual orientation. Barker described the show as one that “does not reduce anything.”

p. Tickets to the show are free and admission is open to the public.

The University Center Activities Board confirmed Monday that popular alternative rock band My Chemical Romance will perform at Kaplan Arena at William & Mary Hall April 28 as part of the band’s international Black Parade Tour. UCAB also announced that the concert will open with a performance by English progressive rock band Muse.

p. The band disclosed the locations of 11 stops on its tour between April 14 and April 28 to its official fan club Feb. 2 on its website, MyChemicalRomance.com. Although the timing of the band’s Williamsburg show coincided with the college’s general time frame of the annual spring concert, UCAB could not comment at the time due to contractual constraints.

p. The commitment with My Chemical Romance marks the first time that UCAB has worked with a concert promoter company to bring a big-name headliner to Williamsburg. According to UCAB Music Committee Chair Emmagene Worley, a senior, it is important that students make a good impression on the promoter, ArtShow Productions, by selling out the arena.

p. “We always want students to attend the events we plan, but it’s especially important this time because this is the first time we’re p working with a major concert promoter, and depending on factors such as student attendance, we can develop a good relationship with the promoter which would likely result in better, more frequent concerts on campus,” she said.

p. The College’s main arena, now called Kaplan Arena, used to be a regaular stop for high profile concerts, including the Grateful Dead, Bruce Springsteen and The Cars. My Chemical Romance could represent a return of big-name headliner concerts in Williamsburg.

p. Tickets went on sale to the general public Monday, and are available on TicketMaster.com for $30.25, with 25 cents of each sale going to charity. Specially priced student tickets, however, go on sale starting Feb. 12 in the UCAB box office, located in the University Center, open from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 5 to 7 p.m. every weekday. Mezzanine seats cost $15 and floor tickets are $21, and can only be purchased with a student ID. There is a limit of two tickets per ID and there are 2,500 student tickets for sale.

p. “Now is the cheapest time to buy tickets,” Worley said. “We expect the student tickets to sell out quickly, and those who do not get the student rate will have to pay the public rate, which is double the special price.”

p. MCR is known for its popular blend of alternative, punk and emo rock. The ‘Parade’ tour comes on the heels of the release of the band’s latest album, “The Black Parade,” in October. “The Black Parade” is the third effort from the quintet, comprised of frontman Gerard Way, bassist Mikey Way, drummer Bob Bryar and guitarists Frank Iero and Ray Toro. Like the band’s previous two albums, “Black Parade” is a concept album looking back on the life of the central character, “the Patient.”

p. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 list and has enjoyed generally positive reviews. Rolling Stone called the album “the best mid-Seventies record of 2006 — an ingenious, unrestrained paraphrasing of the over-the-top glam theater of Queen and classic Alice Cooper.” Likewise, The Washington Post referred to ‘Parade’ as a “phantasmagorical high-wire act.”

p. In its live act, MCR is known for its high-energy performances and attention to thematic details. Like their concept-heavy albums, the band attempts to tell a story through the performance, and chooses song lists carefully. Sophomore Andy Foiles, a member of the music committee and a fan of MCR, said he expects the concert to be “a full blown operatic story brought to life.”

p. Opening band Muse is comprised of guitarist and frontman Matthew Bellamy, drummer Dominic Howard and bassist Chris Wolstenholme. Like My Chemical Romance, the band is known for its energy on stage. The members have been making music together since the age of 13. Muse has been favorably compared to Radiohead, and is touring on the strength of its fifth studio album, “Black Holes and Revelations.”

Popular comedian and actor Tracy Morgan will entertain students and local residents at Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall tomorrow night at 8 p.m. Morgan is most famous for his seven-year stint on “Saturday Night Live” between 1996-2003, where his impersonations and characters made him one of the country’s most popular comedians. He is perhaps most well-known for his skit titled “Brian Fellow’s Safari Planet” in which he portrays a “zoologist” with an elementary school education and a knack for commenting on everything from monkeys and tarantulas to complete nonsense.

p. The University Center Activities Board welcomes Morgan and Washington, DC native and fellow comedian Bradley Lewis, and will be selling student tickets for $10 in the UCAB box office in the University Center from 5-7 p.m. tonight. Morgan joins a long list of famous comedians that UCAB has featured in recent years, including Dave Attell, Jimmy Fallon, Lewis Black, Colin Quinn and Mitch Hedberg.

p. UCAB’s comedy committee generally sponsors two major shows each academic year — a comedian of moderate popularity in the fall and a more famous, well-known performer in the spring — according to Comedy Committee Chair Brett Roth, a junior. Roth said that while the trend has been one large and one medium comedian, as well as monthly shows of up-and-coming comics in Lodge 1, UCAB’s events generally depend on smart planning.

p. “Hopefully if we sell out we could put the extra money towards another major comedian later in the spring,” he said. “Having My Chemical Romance come [to the College] filtered some of the money out of other things.”

p. A standout actor on “Saturday Night Live,” Morgan has also enjoyed a popular stand-up career. However, his material is controversial at times, which has prompted UCAB to limit the show to people over the age of 18.

p. “He is actually pretty racy,” Roth said. “I think that’s just a quality of comedy that you have to deal with. I feel like it’s their creative license. The worst thing would be for a comedian to censor themselves.”

p. Roth said that the process of selecting comedians is extensive, and Morgan was one of 10 names that the committee was considering. “We were going to get Nick Swardson on a Comedy Central Tour which would have been filmed, but we ran into a lot of red tape,” Roth said. He also said the committee was contacted by Lewis Black, but he was declined because he had already performed at the College in April of 2005. Ultimately it was Morgan whose household name made him the final choice from UCAB’s list.

p. “We can bring in a comedian who’s hilarious, but people don’t know who he is and only a small amount of people get to see a great show,” Roth said. “People do get more excited for someone they can see on TV every day and are familiar with.”

p. Morgan chose Lewis to join the ‘SNL’ headliner as his opening act. Lewis is a D.C. native who participated in several comedy club tours and recently won several awards at the D.C. Comedy Festival. Roth said that headlining comedians generally select their own opening acts, and that they often select comics who live close to the performance venue in order to cut down on cost.
Morgan currently stars on NBC’s sitcom “30 Rock” alongside Alec Baldwin and former ‘SNL’ co-star Tina Fey, creator of the show. The comedian’s repertoire also includes appearances in several feature films such as “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,” “Half Baked” and “The Longest Yard.”

p. As of Wednesday, only 100 tickets remained. “The problem with William and Mary is that people are procrastinators beyond belief,” Roth said. “But this one has been selling a lot faster.”

The vibrant colors of the traditional silk dress of the Philippines float across the stage as the actors dance to the music. This dance — called the Singkill — comes from Mindanao, a Philippine island known for its vast beaches and rich heritage of gong-based music, which pounds the rhythm of this dance during the rehearsal for tomorrow night’s show. The dancers are dressed in authentic Filipino clothing. The women are adorned in flowing silk dresses, while the men wear silk vests and colored pants. The dancers, many of whom are part of the Filipino-American Student Association, have been looking forward to tomorrow for a long time.

p. The one and half hour show — titled “Tatlong Daan, Isang Biyahe: One Story about Three Different Lives in Filipino-America” — will be performed tomorrow at 6 p.m. in the University Center Commonwealth Auditorium. Tickets are $8 pre-sale or $10 at the door and include a dinner of traditional Filipino food.

p. “The show will include a lot of dancing,” said senior and Culture Night Co-Chair Melissa Lorenzo. “There are a lot of new dances and some old favorites. The show itself includes eight dances and two musical numbers, including a traditional Filipino bamboo dance called Singkill.” All the dances were choreographed by students.

p. “One of our final dances [the Singkill] is with 20 people,” said junior Rob Landicho, also a Culture Night co-chair. “It is very difficult and actually pretty dangerous. It is pretty cool and I think people are going to like it.”

p. The story line behind the show is a convergence of three different Filipino-Americans. “It is three intertwined stories,” said Landicho. “You follow three different characters’ paths. One is in the army, another is a cultural nut and one is a normal, ghetto, hip-hop kid. They all are Filipino, but each with different experiences.”

p. Landicho and Lorenzo wrote the script together from personal experiences. “The show is based on our experiences with our families, friends and in our lives. It is not specific to Filipino culture, it just highlights Filipino culture.”

p. Senior and FASA President Tara Pascual worked as a choreographer on the show. “[The goal of the show] is based on FASA’s mission statement. FASA wants to educate the college and the community about Filipino-American culture and create a better understanding,” said Pascual.

p. The students also use the dinner as a way to educate and give people a well-rounded cultural experience. “Dinner is basically authentic Filipino cuisine. It is another way to share Filipino culture with everyone.”

p. FASA is not only made up of Filipino-Americans, but many students — from various backgrounds — that are intrested in Filipino culture.

p. “The group of performers is very diverse. It is a lot of people coming together to have fun,” said Landicho. “I brought in a lot of my friends for the show.”

p. Not only is the show’s cast diverse, but so are the types of dances included. “We have many dances and they highlight hip-hop, traditional Filipino dancing, martial arts and many other things,” said Landicho. “This is a show that has something for everyone to relate to.”