DIRTY LAUNDRY the film is an intimate virtual performance from Stewart Owen Dance and Gina Cornejo, that premiered on February 12, 2022. Featuring choreography from Stewart Owen Dance and original autobiographical writing from Gina Cornejo, this cringeworthy-yet-charming film brings together seven artists to enchant viewers.

As an invitation to open dialogue and passionately unearth gritty topics that are often buried, The Martin will host an evening featuring live immersive storytelling by Gina Cornejo, DIRTY LAUNDRY the film and a post show Q&A. Witness Cornejo as she unapologetically discloses the irreverent unraveling of her marriage and divorce on her path to her Queer reclamation. Time to air the dirty laundry, Chicago!

Join us on Sunday November 12th for the showcase. Doors at 7pm and Gina’s showcase begins at 7:30pm. Each ticket includes the performance and a complementary glass of bubbles presented during the experience. There will otherwise be a card-only bar for individual drink purchases for the event.

Consider dining next door at Split-Rail before the show! Check out the menu and make a reservation.

The Martin has one step up into the gallery. If you are a guest who needs a entrance without a step, please enter in via Split-Rail and make your way into the gallery. Both The Martin and Split-Rail have ADA restrooms.

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ABOUT THE ARTIST

Multidisciplinary artist Gina Cornejo (she/they) currently lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. An Americana Peruana, and Queer identifying creative, the mediums they specialize in are autobiographical writing, inventive storytelling, and immersive solo performance. For 17 years, she claimed Chicago as her artistic home, receiving two Jeff Awards for her writing, acting, and concept involvement within several ensemble shows produced by Teatro Luna. Recently, while living in Asheville, North Carolina, she had been chosen for three Artist-In-Residence opportunities: Revolve Gallery, Wortham Center for the Performing Arts, and Story Parlor. Her autobiographical multimedia solo performance show titled DIRTY LAUNDRY debuted at Story Parlor during her residency in July 2022, and recently at the Asheville Fringe Festival in March 2023. She is a recent recipient of the competitive and community activated MARNmentorship at Milwaukee Artist Resource Network, where she will focus on her artist practice of her signature crossover genre of autobiographical writing and conceptual immersive storytelling. Cornejo’s writing and creative process has been featured within podcasts, local newspapers, performed live on festival and theater stages, Audible, Blue Ridge Public Radio, Creative Mornings (AVL), and more. ginacornejo.com

ARTIST STATEMENT

As a proud Queer Americana Peruana I chose to venture far beyond polite storytelling. In the writing and conception of DIRTY LAUNDRY, I originally designed it as a solo show. My intention remains clear: to provide the audience with a theatrical experience of storytelling with drastic intimacy stylized as cringeworthy-yet-charming. The current manuscript of DIRTY LAUNDRY contains 14 autobiographical Chapters of poignant stories. Here, at The Martin, the performance will feature a curated handful of these Chapters of which I unapologetically disclose the irreverent unraveling of my marriage and divorce. Spanning the years from 2004 – the present, this genre-bending personal narrative aims to unearth gritty topics that are often left buried, and is both an invitation to open dialogue and an offering of solidarity.

At the core of DIRTY LAUNDRY is a cyclical coming of middle-age story of promising love, societal expectations, divorce, grief, monogamous commitment, commentary on the archaic system of marriage, and the reclamation into my Queer identity. These are the intricacies that surfaced from my 14+ years with this one significant human that I called “Love.” DIRTY LAUNDRY acts as a catalyst for us to continue onward with our dedication to excavate avenues that upset the comfort of the anchored ideology of marital concepts. Allow these Chapters to serve as a stand-in for the universal private moments that belong to each of us that will be amplified into a universal sphere of conscious conversation. This conversation is not only pivotal but monumental to how we collectively find reconciliation within our shared traumas that echo healing into our communities.

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Tags: Chicago, Dirty Laundry, Dirty Laundry: a night of film & immersive storytelling by Gina Cornejo, Gina Cornejo, Stewart Owen Dance, The Martin, West Town