Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

WIG HEAD

Date Range From

2013

Date Range To

2015

Materials

PLASTIC, WOOD

No. Pieces

1

Description

FAUX HUMAN SKULL WITH HINGED CRANIUM ON HANDMADE WOOD PEDESTAL. “MADE IN CHINA” EMBOSSED ON BACK OF JAWBONE. HOT GLUE DRIPS ON AREA WHERE SKULL ATTACHES TO COLUMN OF PEDESTAL, SKULL HAS PARTIALLY DETACHED TO PEDESTAL, HANDLE WITH CARE. ADDITIONAL HOT GLUE DRIPS AT TOP OF PEDESTAL, BELOW FAUX METAL, RED HAIR STUCK IN DRIED GLUE. WOOD BASE OF PEDESTAL IS SPLINTERING AND CRACKING ALONG BOTTOM, HANDLE WITH CARE. OVERALL FAIR - GOOD CONDITION.

Subjects

PUBLIC ENTERTAINMENT DEVICE

Historical Association

LEISURE

History

ON MARCH 20, 2024, COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN, KEVIN MACLEAN INTERVIEWED JAY WHITEHEAD REGARDING THEATRE OUTRÉ’S DONATION, SPECIFICALLY THE PINK WIG AND FAUX HUMAN SKULL ON PEDESTAL. THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS DERIVED FROM THAT INTERVIEW. WHITEHEAD EXPLAINED WHERE THE FAUX SKULL ON PEDESTAL WAS USED: “…THIS WAS A FOCAL POINT ON THE SET PIECE OF THEATRE OUTRÉ’S VERY FIRST PRODUCTION, WHICH WAS A PLAY THAT I WROTE WITH DANIEL JUDES, CALLED ‘UNSEX’D’… (TOTALLY HISTORICALLY INACCURATE), BUT IT TOLD THE STORY OF TWO SHAKESPEAREAN BOY PLAYERS, OR MEN, WHO PLAYED FEMALE ROLES IN SHAKESPEARE’S TIME, FIGHTING IT OUT TO ORIGINATE THE ROLE OF LADY MACBETH IN SHAKESPEARE’S NEW PLAY. AND IT’S KIND OF INSPIRED BY ‘ALL ABOUT EVE’, OR THERE WAS THE AGING QUEEN WHO WAS USED TO PLAYING THE BIG ROLES AND THEN THE YOUNG INGÉNUE COMES IN AND STEALS THE PART…” WHITEHEAD CONTINUED ON THE FAUX SKULL’S USE WITHIN THE SHOW ‘UNSEX’D’: “…MY CHARACTER’S NAME WAS ‘WILBURN HUSSEY,’ AND IT SAT ON MY [CHARACTER’S] VANITY, WHICH WAS KIND OF THE FOCAL POINT OF THE SET. AND I WORE VARIOUS WIGS THROUGHOUT THE PIECE, AND IT WAS USED AS A WIG HEAD.” ON HOW THEATRE OUTRÉ CAME INTO POSSESSION OF THE SKULL ON STAND, WHITEHEAD RECALLED: “…BECAUSE WE WERE EMPLOYED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF LETHBRIDGE, THIS WAS A GIFT FROM THEIR PROP SHOP, AS PART OF THE SHOW. SO, WE FOUND IT IN THEIR PROPS, HAVING BEEN GIVEN PERMISSION TO DO SO, AND WERE ALLOWED TO USE IT FOR THE PRODUCTION [OF ‘UNSEX’D’]. AND, BECAUSE THE [‘UNSEX’D’] PRODUCTION CONTINUED TO TOUR OVER THE SPAN OF SEVERAL YEARS, (ACROSS CANADA AND TO DUBLIN), [THE SKULL AND STAND] JUST KIND OF STAYED IN [THEATRE OUTRÉ’S] POSSESSION OVER THE YEARS.” WHITEHEAD COMMENTED ON THE PRODUCTION OF ‘UNSEX’D’ AND THEATRE OUTRÉ: “…WHEN WE WERE DOING [‘UNSEX’D’], WE HAD NO BUDGET TO SPEAK OF, AND IT WAS DIRECTED BY RICHIE WILCOX AND DESIGNED BY AARON COLLIER, WHO HAD JUST COME TO LETHBRIDGE FROM THE EAST COAST AND [BOTH] WERE INSTRUMENTAL IN THE FOUNDING OF THEATRE OUTRÉ…” ON CREATING SPACE FOR THEATRE OUTRÉ IN LETHBRIDGE, ALBERTA, WHITEHEAD EXPLAINED: “…PART OF THE IMPETUS TO CREATE ‘BORDELLO’, WHICH BECAME ‘CLUB DIDI’, WHICH BECAME ‘DIDI’S PLAYHAUS’, WAS TO BE MORE VISIBLE WITHIN THE COMMUNITY AND TO CREATE A SPACE THAT WAS NOT JUST FOR THEATRE BUT FOR, YOU KNOW, SOCIAL INTERACTION WITHIN THE COMMUNITY, AND PERFORMANCE…” WHITEHEAD CONTINUED ON THE BORDELLO VENUE: “…I THINK IT WAS LIKE 2012-2013, WHEN WE FIRST GOT THE ‘BORDELLO’ SPACE ABOVE ‘THE OWL’, AND WE WANTED TO DO QUEER THEATRE, AND I HAD WRITTEN A PLAY WITH MY FRIEND, DANIEL JUDES, FROM GRAD SCHOOL, CALLED ‘UNSEX’D’, AND WE NEEDED A VENUE. AND THAT WAS KIND OF THE REASON WHY WE TOOK THE VENUE, BUT ALSO, WE THOUGHT WE COULD CONTINUE TO FUND THE VENUE BY DOING OTHER EVENTS LIKE DRAG CABARETS. AND THAT WAS WHEN ‘DIDI’ WAS BORN, OUT OF THAT DESIRE TO MAINTAIN A VENUE, AND A SPACE FOR THE COMMUNITY, THAT WAS IN THE HEART OF THE CITY!” ON MARCH 11, 2024, COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN, KEVIN MACLEAN INTERVIEWED DEONIE HUDSON REGARDING THEATRE OUTRÉ’S DONATION OF A PINK WIG, CURTAINS, FAUX HUMAN SKULL ON STAND, ASSORTED FAUX HUMAN BONES, AND A FLORAL HEADPIECE. DEONIE HUDSON, AT THE TIME OF THE INTERVIEW, WAS WORKING WITH THEATRE OUTRÉ FOR EIGHT YEARS; STARTING AS AN INTERN, RESIDENT DESIGNER, INTERIM ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, AND FINALLY INTO THE PERFORMANCE COORDINATOR ROLE. THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS DERIVED FROM THAT INTERVIEW. ON WHAT SHE KNOW’S ABOUT THE FAUX SKULL ON PEDESTAL, HUDSON COMMENTED: “…THE SKULL WIG CAP PRE-DATES ME. THAT [PROP] WAS DESIGNED BY DAVID BARRUS, AND IT WAS PART OF ONE OF THE FIRST [THEATRE OUTRÉ] PRODUCTIONS THAT WAS DONE… ‘UNSEX’D,’ WHICH WAS WRITTEN BY JAY WHITEHEAD. SO, THAT [FAUX SKULL ON PEDESTAL] WAS A PIECE THAT WAS USED AS PART OF THAT PLAY.” HUDSON COMMENTED ON WHAT DREW HER TO THEATRE OUTRÉ AND STAY ON AFTER INTERNING: “…ONCE I GOT INVOLVED IN [THEATRE OUTRÉ], IT WAS THE COMMUNITY, AND IT WAS REALIZING HOW MUCH THE QUEER COMMUNITY IN LETHBRIDGE NEEDED A SUPPORT SYSTEM, AND BEING ABLE TO BE A PART OF THAT WAS REALLY WHAT DROVE ME TO CONTINUE ON, AND TO FIGHT THROUGH COVID, AND MONEY, AND, LIKE, ANYTHING THAT WE NEEDED TO DO TO JUST KEEP THAT COMPANY GOING, AND TO KEEP BEING A PART OF IT, AND FEELING THAT LOVE, AND THAT JOY, THAT THE COMMUNITY NEEDED, AND GIVING PEOPLE THAT SPACE TO BE THEMSELVES, AND TELL THEIR STORIES.” ON HOW LETHBRIDGE DIFFERS FROM BIGGER CITY CENTERS, HUDSON STATED: “…WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN LETHBRIDGE IS SO ANOMALOUS IN THE QUEER COMMUNITY THAT IT COULD ONLY EXIST HERE… THERE’S SOMETHING SO SPECIAL ABOUT THIS CITY, AND BEING IN A PLACE THAT, IN ALL THEORY, SHOULD NOT BE A PLACE THAT QUEER COMMUNITIES SHOULD THRIVE… BUT THE COMMUNITY IS SO STRONG, AND SO WONDERFUL, AND THE COMMUNITY THAT SURROUNDS IT IN THE ALLIES IS SO WARM, AND LOVELY, AND ACCEPTING, THAT IT HAS ALLOWED QUEER PEOPLE IN LETHBRIDGE TO REALLY THRIVE, AND REALLY BECOME SOMETHING THAT DIDN’T EXIST BEFORE. IT’S LESS UNDERGROUND…” HUDSON CONTINUED: “…YOU HAVE POCKETS OF QUEER THINGS THAT HAPPEN. YOU KNOW, YOU’VE GOT YOUR CLUBS, OR YOUR THEATRES, OR YOUR THIS, OR YOUR THAT, AND [THEATRE OUTRÉ] WERE ALL OF THOSE THINGS ROLLED INTO ONE, BECAUSE THAT’S JUST THE WAY THAT IT WORKED HERE.” THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS DERIVED FROM THEATRE OUTRÉ’S WEBSITE “ABOUT US” PAGE: “…THEATRE OUTRÉ IS A PROFESSIONAL THEATRE COMPANY BASED IN LETHBRIDGE, ALBERTA, FOUNDED IN 2013 BY FORMER ARTISTIC DIRECTOR JAY WHITEHEAD. THEATRE OUTRÉ IS A LEADING OUTLET FOR ALTERNATIVE AND QUEER THEATRE IN ALBERTA AND THE PRODUCER OF THE HUGELY SUCCESSFUL QUAINT, QUIRKY & QUEER CABARET & FESTIVAL (FORMERLY PRETTY, WITTY & GAY). THEATRE OUTRÉ ALSO PRODUCES A SERIES OF IMPROV SHOWS THROUGH IMPROMPTOU AND PROGRAMS DRAG SHOWS AND OTHER QUEER-FOCUSED EVENTS AT THE OWL AND THROUGHOUT THE COMMUNITY…” FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE FAUX HUMAN SKULL ON PEDESTAL, DONOR SUPPLIED IMAGES, THEATRE OUTRÉ’S FACEBOOK AND WEBSITE, OR TO SEE FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTIONS, PLEASE SEE THE DONATIONS PERMANENT FILE.

Catalogue Number

P20240003003

Acquisition Date

2024-03

Collection

Museum

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