Looking Back at Naked July 2012

On the last Sunday before Naked July 2012 closed, the artistic team at the National Pastime Theater hosted a special event titled “Shades” that was designed to allow audience members to meet some of the cast members from the shows that were featured this summer and to relax and enjoy the Naked July experience for themselves. There was music and food to sample throughout the evening as well as some short performance pieces, stand-up comedy routines, and figure drawing sessions.

Music: Music lovers found much to enjoy in the three music segments during the evening. Leading off was a set of original songs and traditional favorites by Elle Casazza, a talented vocalist who recently performed on the NPT stage as a part of the Beast Women ensemble. Next up was an entertaining set of swing jazz selections by Michael O’Toole, one of the stars of References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, who was joined by Rick Veras on the violin. Later in the evening, the audience was mesmerized by the unique and creative electronic music performed by Brian Murray Exponential Sound System that included viola collaboration by Johanna.

Performances: The Living Canvas concept has become an established segment of the Naked July Festival, and so it was fitting that a few of the vignettes from this year’s show titled Eureka were played out for the audience. Arielle Basile filled the theater space with her hauntingly beautiful opera voice while moving completely nude through a colorful sea of projected patterns in the true Living Canvas style. Following Arielle’s performance, Sarah Aubry recreated her solo piece from Eureka clothed only in projected patterns of stars and text.

Comedy: Caitlin Bergh did a great solo comic monologue during the evening and, in keeping with the spirit of the "Shades" event, she bravely stripped down during her act to make a poignant statement about the festival and one of the central themes of her comedy routine. Caitlin has a relaxed and natural style that was well received by the audience, and her performance filled with anecdotes about her own life was a nice addition to the other events of the evening.

Figure Drawing: For much of the evening, the center stage area was filled with easels and posing stands as several nude figure models posed for artists. One of the featured models was Felecia who held several different poses for the artists on hand. Audience members were encouraged to mingle with the artists and models onstage, and a few of them got into the Naked July spirit by volunteering to be models themselves. In the end, there were clothed artists sketching nude models and nude artists drawing clothed models.

The Naked July Festival is about body acceptance and the celebration of the beauty of the human body. “Shades” was a great way to cap off a successful festival in 2012 since the relaxed and uninhibited atmosphere encouraged audience members to join in the celebration themselves and not just sit as observers in the seats. Given the success of this event, it is likely that the NPT artistic team will continue the tradition next year and no doubt find many more ways for all who attend to let themselves go and celebrate in true Naked July style. We are all looking for an even bigger and better Naked July Festival in 2013.