John Waters

SITE SANTA FE PRESENTS JOHN WATERS: THE WORLD OF TRASH A BENEFIT EVENT August 10, 2002 Santa Fe, NM -- SITE Santa Fe is pleased to announce its summer benefit, John Waters: The World of Trash, an entertaining and outrageous monologue performance with an irreverent art world spin. The event will be held on Saturday, August 10, 6:30 pm at the James A. Little Theater. General admission is $40 for festival seating. Benefit tickets are available for $100 and $250, and include reserved seating at the performance as well as a pre-performance reception. All proceeds will benefit SITE Santa Fe's exhibitions and programs. SITE Santa Fe board member, Frieda Arth, and Santa Fe gallery owner Allene LaPides are Co-Chairman of the benefit. Tab Hunter, star of WatersÕ film Polyester, will serve as Honorary Chairman. The event will be kicked off with a reception in honor of Tod Tomorrow, Hunter's character in Polyester, and will take place from 5:30 pm to 6:15 pm on the lawn of the James A. Little Theater. The reception is made possible by a generous donation from Santa Fe's Standard Market. John Waters is the acclaimed writer and director of cult classic films Pink Flamingos, Polyester, Hairspray, Cry Baby, Serial Mom, Pecker, and Cecil B. Demented, among others. John Waters was among the first filmmakers to glorify bad taste, white trash, kitsch, drag, and sexual perversity. Waters states, "I pride myself on the fact that my work has no socially redeeming value." During his performance, Waters will elaborate on how his films are self-consciously a part of the contemporary culture they adamantly criticize. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Waters uses the city as the setting for all of his films. Waters made his first film, Hag in a Black Leather Jacket, in 1964. In 1966, he made Roman Candles, the first of his films to star Divine and Mink Stole. In 1967, Eat Your Makeup portrayed the story of a deranged governess and her lover who kidnap fashion models and forced them to model themselves to death. Mondo Trasho was Waters' first feature length film, which he completed in 1969. In 1970, Waters completed what he described as his first "celluloid atrocity," Multiple Maniacs. In 1972 he created what would become his most notorious film in the American independent cinema, Pink Flamingos, which starred Divine, Mink Stole, and David Luchary. The film turned Waters into a cult celebrity, and went on to become a smash success at midnight screenings in the United States and around the world. Following the success of Pink Flamingos, Waters made three more films that spanned the remainder of the decade. Female Trouble, created in 1974, was the story of Dawn Davenport, a criminal who wanted to be famous so badly she committed murder. Desperate Living premiered in 1977, and was a monstrous fairytale comedy starring notorious mafia moll turned stripper Liz Renay. In 1981, Waters completed Polyester, a wide-screen comic melodrama starring Divine and Tab Hunter. Movie audiences were given scratch and sniff cards that allowed the audience to smell along with the characters in their fragrant search for romantic happiness. In Hairspray, filmed in 1988, Waters created a comedy extravaganza about starstruck teenage celebrities in 1962, their stage mothers, and the quest for mental health. The film was a box office and critical success and starred the then-unknown Ricki Lake, Deborah Harry, the late Sonny Bono, Jerry Stiller, Pia Zadora, and Ric Ocasek. The success of Hairspray brought Waters major Hollywood backing for his next feature, Cry Baby, which starred Johnny Depp. In 1994, Waters released Serial Mom, the well- reviewed, socially unredeeming comedy starring Kathleen Turner and Sam Waterson. Serial Mom was the closing night attraction at that year's Cannes Film Festival. Pecker, a feel-good movie about amateur photography was released in 1988. The Japan Times called it "a Disney film for perverts." In addition to writing and directing films, Waters is the author of four books about filmmaking: Shock Value, Trash Trio, Crackpot, and Director's Cut. Waters lectures at universities, theaters, and comedy clubs across the country. He has also appeared on television shows including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Late Show with David Letterman, Politically Incorrect, and The Conan O'Brien Show. For more information and benefit ticket for John Waters: The World of Trash, please call 505.989.1199, extension 20. John Waters: The World of Trash is made possible by generous support from Allene and Jerome LaPides. Christie's is the lead corporate sponsor. Concurrent with this event are SITE Santa Fe's exhibitions: Sarah Morris: Capital, Gary Simmons, and John F. Simon, Jr. on view through September 8, 2002. SITE Santa Fe is located at 1606 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, NM. Hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 10 am - 5 pm, Friday, 10 am - 7 pm. Docent tours on Fridays at 6 pm, Saturday and Sunday at 2 pm. Tours in Spanish are by appointment. Call 505.989.1199 for more information. Contact: Press Office Tel: 505.989.1199 Fax:505.989.1188 email: sitesantafe @sitesantafe.org