Halle Kaplan-Allen (L), Maddy Rose (R) of Femaissance. Photo courtesy of Oleander on Royal

Femaissance Hosts Sound On: A Female-Centric Comedy Night

New Orleans-based art movement Femaissance will continue programming for its current exhibition, Femaissance: Primavera with “Sound On: A Female-Centric Comedy Night.” Spearheaded by local comedian Jade Patton, the event will also feature Kate Mason, TK Fairley, Laura Sanders and Camille Roan.

“Sound On,” which is free and open to the public, will take place on Friday, May 11 (doors: 8 p.m., show: 8:30 p.m.) at Oleander on Royal (1000 Royal St.), where Femaissance is hosting its Primavera exhibition through Sunday, May 27. The exhibition draws inspiration from Botticelli’s 1482 Italian Renaissance painting of the same name, a work Femaissance Co-Founder and Curator Maddy Rose describes as “a masterpiece with a narrative worth redirecting.” The curation seeks to communicate diverse experiences of womanhood with motifs rooted in mother nature, New Orleans horticulture and the exploration of what it means to be “muse-worthy.” The exhibition features over 50 works of art, including a re-interpretation of Botticelli’s Primavera in a 6-foot watercolor created for the exhibition by local painter Lyla Clayre.

Part of our mission is to celebrate New Orleans’ new generation of creative legends,” Halle Kaplan-Allen, Femaissance Co-Founder and Events Director, said. “Because this is both an exhibition and a community space, programming events is essential to the success of bringing women together. Comedy is an art that we have yet to explore with the project, and we feel so lucky to have Jade involved to amplify a moment truly worth celebrating.”

“There’s really special thing happening with women in New Orleans comedy,” Patton said. “It’s a diverse community of women who are breaking a lot of perceptions of what people think of when they think of female comics. Women are dominating the comedy scene in the city right now, and a lot of that is on behalf of the work Black Girl Giggles [Camille Roan] has put in to make sure black women are in these spaces and that the community is an expression of diverse experiences. It’s the result of these women putting in the work to change the face of comedy.”

For more information, visit Femaissance.us and follow Femaissance on Instagram and Facebook. Look out for an interview with Rose and Kaplan-Allen on their mission and their next exhibition, Femaissance: Proserpina, in OffBeat’s June issue.