(Art) It's ALWAYS Political.

L'Raven is performing artist and community organizer living on Chicago's southside. Since 2020, L'Raven has been engaged with grassroots organizing campaigns against the expansion of prisons and jail. She is a proud member of Queer Dance Freakout, The Hail Marys. Additionally, she serves on an advisory board for Perceptions Theater Company's, which is dedicated to bringing theater to the Southside and providing theater opportunities to actors and playwrights of color.

Tendencies of a Fall

Alyssa Simpson (she/her) is a professional dance artist and collaborator based in Chicago, IL. Her work investigates narratives that play with movement and the vulnerability of performance. She has worked with We Are Collective for their last four seasons.

A recent dance graduate, Tristen Sanborn is just freshly stepping into the Chicago dance scene. Doing various works across Chicago and the Twin Cities, Sanborn is truly interested in the human connection that comes with the art form. Throughout these two cities, Tristen has worked with various companies, such as The Walker Arts Center, The Cowles Center, Shapiro & Smith Dance, NBC, The Seldoms, The Joffrey Ballet, Kaleena Miller Dance and more. Tristen is also a company organizer of the Chicago dance collective, WE ARE.  An emerging choreographer, Sanborn has showcased choreography at a few different Chicago festivals, such as The Harvest Chicago Contemporary Dance Festival, and Delve Dance Showcase.

Advocacy in Scriptwork

Ray Post is a mover, a shaker, and a theater maker. They have been working on creating dance, theater, and music that imagines and creates worlds full of colorful queers since they knew how to create. A lifetime musician, actor, and dancer, Ray has continued those pursuits since moving to Chicago in 2021. They were involved in GenderFucked Productions' inaugural event and have since directed and danced with Queer Dance Freakout and performed with Trans Voices Cabaret consecutively over the last 3 years. In addition, they have done musical direction and accompaniment at Second City and played violin in Strawdog Theater's Hanukkah show. A devoted artist and collaborator, Ray Post strives to do it all.

Heels Technique and Western Play Pretend

Maddy McCarthy (she/they) is a Chicago-based producer, choreographer, and dancer with a BFA in contemporary dance from Indiana University. In her career she’s performed for postmodern dance legends Twyla Tharp and Bill T Jones as well as local Chicago companies and independent artists, including but not limited to LoudBodies Dance, Peckish Rhodes Performing Arts Society, Alix Schillaci, and Kaleigh Dent. She is currently honored to serve on the board of directors of LoudBodies Dance under artistic director Maria Blanco as well as dance for the Hail Marys under artistic director Rachael Leek. When not dancing, she can be found binging spooky tv shows like Twin Peaks and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and/or silly comedy movies like Hot Rod and Surf’s Up, as well as drawing, writing poetry, getting impulse tattoos, getting brunch with the gals, wrastling with her dog, reading horny vampire books, and styling thrifted outfits.