Professor Eversley’s absence the day we visited Penny Arcade’s rehearsal foreshadowed a series of unfortunate events that would unfold: the odd adventures into Penny Arcade’s rehearsal visit. At first, I tried to be positive of what Susana Ventura’s art could offer; I tried to be optimistic. But I just did not get it. I asked myself several questions during the rehearsal: where does the theater aspect come in? Why is she just giving a speech? Why does her show mimic more of a church preacher than an actual show?

Don’t get me wrong, I get her message. She talks about several important issues important to today’s society. For example, she mentioned the liberation of “sexual energy” like during the burlesque movement, the issues of gentrification, annoying tourists feeding into the capitalist takeover of New York City, and more. I agree especially on her commentary of gentrification because we’re losing the diverse cultures that New York City used to hold because of rising rent prices. We’re in an age where consumer demands are more important than quality and quantity of diverse perspectives. I still remember Susana saying she was an adventurer: she loved visiting all parts of the world, but she also loved eating different cuisines like Sichuan, Portuguese, Shanghainess, and more. Through this, she basically means that New York City’s diverse backgrounds offers different food cuisines to satisfy her “adventurer” attitude–I loved this aspect of NYC. But beyond these few ideologies, I did not see the artful component of her show–I can’t truly appreciate her work without seeing what form of medium she was accomplishing in.

Stand up comedy reminds me most of Susana’s show, except the funny aspect. When watching her perform through past video clips and in-person, I was scared, terrified. She brought up important topics in society, but she spewed them out in an hateful way, in my opinion. I felt uncomfortable to even make a noise. It’s ironic though because I really like Susana as a person. She comes from a difficult past, yet she takes responsibility, control of her life. She even encouraged us to reach out to her if we had any questions about life in general, where the best places are to eat, and anything on our minds. It’s an odd dynamic between her personality and her stage personality. Maybe it’s because her acting was so good, I can’t separate the two images of her personalities.

I’m not really sure how to conclude my experiences with visiting Penny Arcade’s rehearsal visit. Maybe that’s the point of my queasy, unsettled stomach feeling; maybe Susana wanted us to feel uncomfortable to make change of the way we perceive reality. Hopefully, as I begin to process my experience more, I am able to derive what her meaning of the work as a whole was.