Archives Onstage: Hot Peaches

From the wall of downtown divas to the maximalist gallery wall, Hot Peaches are on display like never before, with a special installation of photos from the archives, curated by series organizers Rye Gentleman and J de Leon. Spend some time in the NYU Skirball lobby, before or after a show, and revel in the sharp, glittering spectacle.

Location: NYU Skirball Lower Lobby

The photographs in this exhibit are a selection from the Hot Peaches Records, Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University. 

Upon the recent release of her bestselling biography Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson (Tiny Reparations Books, Penguin Randomhouse 2025), NYU’s Department of Performance Studies presents an artist talk and conversation with acclaimed artist, writer and activist Tourmaline. Bringing together Tourmaline’s filmmaking, performance, writing and research, this event features a reading by Tourmaline from Marsha, and a screening of her films featuring archival representations and fabulations of Marsha P. Johnson’s art, life and contributions in Happy Birthday, Marsha! (2017, co-directed by Sasha Wortzel) and Pollinator (2024, Whitney Biennial).

Location: 19 W 4th St, Room 101

Free and open to the public. RSVP required. 

Describing themselves as “revolutionaries in action,” Hot Peaches made unabashedly queer, political theatre following the Stonewall Riots in the early 1970s and continuing into the mid-90s—working through the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 80s and culture wars in the 90s. Through it all, the group demonstrated the co-constitutive resilience of queer art and life, and their archives offer deeply relevant and timely insights toward collaborative queer survival in hostile times. Moderated by Helen Shaw and featuring David Getsy, Joe Jeffreys, Hugh Ryan, and others, this panel will explore the legacy and ongoing importance of the Peaches and of downtown queer performance more broadly, from post-Stonewall to the present, asking: What is the potential of queer and trans performance during times of political crisis?

Location: NYU Bobst Library, 70 Washington Square South

Free and open to the public. RSVP required. 

For 25 years starting in 1972, Hot Peaches delighted theater audiences from downtown New York to western Europe with their gay camp cabaret theater shows that pulled no punches about whatever the zeitgeist obsession of the moment was, from Andy Warhol to Jackie Onassis to Martha Mitchell to Oscar Wilde to Jean Genet.

Join us to celebrate Hot Peaches, with performances from former members, clips from the archives, and a conversation with Jimmy Camicia, the group’s co-founder, director and playwright.

Location: NYU Skirball, 566 La Guardia Place

Free and open to the public. RSVP required. 

NYU Skirball’s Book Club is back! – this semester, we’re reading Tourmaline’s new book Marsha – the new, definitive biography of activist and Hot Peaches member Marsha P. Johnson.

Location: NYU Skirball, 566 La Guardia Place

Free and open to the public. RSVP required.