Jerk it onstage

Masturbation stories are read onstage to the delight of others

Jerking, diddling, flicking, rubbing, grabbing, jacking, jilling, pettingwhacking-smackingtickling. Okay, some of those are made up, but there’s no disputing the impressive number of ways that people masturbate. May Can Theatre hopes to represent a range of experiences and techniques at its upcoming Jerk It event.

May Can will collect anonymous masturbation stories up until Friday, Feb 6. A selection of the stories will be read aloud a week later at Jerk It.

When they held a similar event in March 2014, they were surprised by the stories they got. “They weren’t all sexy and embarrassing. Some were sad, touching or involved self-discovery,” says Madeleine Boyes-Manseau, resident artist at May Can. “And that’s great. The main goal is to gather stories that are compelling and show as large a cross-section of experiences as we can.” To that end, they hope some of the submissions will come from queer people.

Nobody will know who the authors are; instead, the stories will be read by designated readers. “It’s better that way. Sometimes people don’t want to tell their story if others will know they wrote it,” Boyes-Manseau says.

For added insight and hilarity, some stories will be read by people whose gender doesn’t match that of the author. “Last time, I submitted one of my stories and a guy read it,” she says. “Having a strong male voice reading the story of my first time masturbating was interesting. He was unsure how to read it, and that highlighted how fumbly and naive I was.”

Jerk It
Thurs, Feb 12–Sat, Feb 21
Arts Court Studio, 2 Daly Ave
artscourt.ca

Jeremy Willard is a Toronto-based freelance writer and editor. He's written for Fab Magazine, Daily Xtra and the Torontoist. He generally writes about the arts, local news and queer history (in History Boys, the Daily Xtra column that he shares with Michael Lyons).

Read More About:
Culture, Sex, Arts, Theatre, Ottawa

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