The Coast is Queer Public Studio with Lois Weaver and Patricia Langa

Lois Weaver is an artist, activist and Professor of Contemporary Performance Practice at Queen Mary, University of London. She was co-founder of Spiderwoman Theater, Split Britches, WOW Café Theatre and Artistic Director of Gay Sweatshop in London. She has collaborated with Peggy Shaw and Split Britches since 1980. Lois is a 2014 Guggenheim Fellow and a Wellcome Trust Engaging Science Fellow for 2016-19. She was awarded the WOW Women in Creative Industries Award for Fighting the Good Fight in 2018 and in 2024, she received a NYC OBIE Lifetime Achievement Award. Recent performances with Split Britches include Unexploded Ordnances (2016-18) and Last Gasp; A Recalibration (2021-23). Her experiments in performance as a means of public engagement include the Long Table, the Porch Sitting, the Situation Room, the Care Café, Public Studio, and her facilitating persona, Tammy WhyNot. From 2014-2016, Tammy WhyNot collaborated with senior centers in the US and UK on What Tammy Needs To Know About Getting Old and Having Sex which premiered at La MaMa ETC, NYC. Lois’s performance practice is documented in The Only Way Home Is Through the Show: Performance Works of Lois Weaver, edited by Lois Weaver and Jen Harvie, published by Intellect Books (2015).

Originally from Barcelona, Patricia Langa trained at the Institut del Teatre in Barcelona and the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance in London.

As a dancer, Patricia has worked internationally with choreographers, directors, and companies, including Lea Anderson, Ridley Scott, Aletta Collins, Simon Rattle, Rambert Company, Thomas Noone Dance, Dantzaz Konpainia, Impermanence Dance Theatre, Blind Summit, LA Philharmonic, Fernando Melo, Thick & Tight, Katya Bourvis, Chewy She, Gary Clarke Company, and many more.

Since 2017, she has been an associate artist and collaborator with Thick & Tight, Nicole Bachmann, and Corali Dance Company—an acclaimed group of artists with learning disabilities. Since 2023, she has been one of the resident choreographers for the drag king collective Haus of Dons and the celebrated cabaret Fools Moon Cabaret at Soho Theatre, London.

As a queer artist, choreographer, and collaborator, her work has been presented at venues including The Royal Opera House, The Vaults Festival, Chessfest 2023, Berlin Music Awards, major art galleries in London and Switzerland, European music festivals, and various LGBTQ+ venues such as The Royal Vauxhall Tavern, Duckie, and Posh Club.

After being awarded a DYCP Grant by the Arts Council of England in 2021, Patricia performed, directed, and produced a dance film about flamenco’s queer history and its relationship with masculinity called QUEEROLÉ!, which is set to be released at the end of 2024.

In 2023, Patricia founded her company Eric Longa, which now encompasses all her work as a performer, choreographer, and movement director. She is currently running the first-ever big project on queer flamenco, which includes free workshops and a show at Stanley Arts, bringing together people of all backgrounds and ages. This is Cabrolé! Check Eric Longa’s website for more info: https://www.ericlonga.com/cabrole (Photo credit, Darren Evans)