This is a podcast about intimate relationships of all kinds. It's Slow Radio, consensual eavesdropping. It’s us lying down, sharing secrets, in your ears.
Each full-length recording is between 3 and 5 hours long, divided into two episodes. Part one: available in all the podcast places. Part two: available exclusively to patrons of the horizontal arts. And at the very end of the part twos, I ask my guest to tell me a story...
Occasionally, I release a quickie episode. A quickie is just the story (or in this case, stories, as she was feeling inspired).
This particular quickie episode was recorded live at my horizontal storytelling pajama party of February 2018.
In this quickie, I lie down with Diana Oh. Diana Oh is a Force.
An instigator, an activist, an actress, a musician, a singer, a creator of myriad kinds. She is an Interpreter, and also, a Maker - a sensual, gutsy, and glorious queer theatre-maker, happening-curator, and music-creator. Since Diana uses both she and they pronouns, I will use them interchangeably.
They are the architect of {my lingerie play}, a series of installations, performances, and concerts profiled in places like Upworthy and The New York Times, which includes public declarations of lingerie, body positivity, and standing for the right to walk down the fucking street without being harassed.
Recently they hosted a series of slumber parties - can you see why she’s a woman after my own heart?! - and called them The Infinite Love Party. I love that. I love that so much.
I’ve had a horizontal sleepover in the works for a while, and this coming Sunday, September 29th from 5-8pm at Hacienda Studio in Brooklyn, I’m hosting horizontal + chill: #notaplayparty.
It’s a 3-hour sleepover! We’ll have connection games, a cheeky film screening, massage toys, a hot tub, and surprises (which may or may not include a serenade or two).
I first saw Diana perform in a staged reading of a musical over a decade ago, in a teeny tiny black box theatre in the very West Village. I don't remember the plot. I don't recall the music. I only vaguely remember who I was with. What I *do* have memory of, vividly, viscerally, is Diana's sensuality. As she sang and flipped her hair to the side and cocked her head, smiled and rocked her body to the beat, her sensuality penetrated every crevice of that space..... and I wondered, "Do I want to be her? Do I want to kiss her?"
I think what I admire the most about Diana is her refusal to color in the lines of your medium. Her whole career seems to say, "Why can't these things go together? Obviously they fucking can. I'm gonna put them together and see what happens."
Is it a play?
Is it a concert?
Performance art?
An installation?
A happening?
Yes. Yes it is.
Find all things Diana at dianaoh.co (It rhymes.)
For the visuals, point yourself to her Instagram: oh yea Diana
(As usual, everything will be linked in the blog post on horizontalwithlila.com)
You can be a part of her multidisciplinary glory by becoming her patron at Patreon.com/dianaoh
And in order to receive access to all the part two episodes of horizontal, as well as a personal Happy Dance video and monthly intimacy tips, become a patron of the horizontal arts by navigating directly to Patreon.com/horizontalwithlila.
You have to navigate there directly from the link, or type it in perfectly, because unlike Diana (lucky!) I am relegated to the ghetto of sex-positive creators on Patreon.
It doesn't matter if we are providing sex ed. It doesn't matter if our work is not explicit. It doesn't matter if we hide all our content and only make it available to patrons, as I have done, after they froze my account last year - Patreon hides our profiles and makes it impossible to search for our work, because we are categorized as "adult" creators.
So, in order to support our sensual, sensory work, find us on Patreon.com/dianaoh ... And Patreon.com/horizontalwithlila:
In this quickie, Diana tells us stories about queer liberation, reparations, sex in a theatre, and inviting a roomful of NPR subscribers out on a date.
Now! Come lie down with us at horizontal storytelling, in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
***
This episode was mixed and mastered by Irving Gadhoury. Find him for all your audio needs at IGrecording.com. My intro music was composed by Alan Markley, @plasticcannons on Instagram, and my cover art was designed by Shana Shay, whom you can hire on 99 designs.
Until next time: may you have someone to love, something to do, and something to look forward to. This week, I'm looking forward to experimenting with co-working at The Wing, and seeing some immersive theatre!
Get your tickets for this Sunday night’s horizontal + chill!
And thank you for getting horizontal.