Written & Performed by Stacie Chaiken; premiere May 2019 at the Son of Semele Solo Creation Festival.
“Don't Flinch !!” is a mashup of fact and fiction: celebrating the iconic Main Street Gym (Third & Main, 1933-1984). This video is an excerpt from a June 2019 site-specific performance, on the former site of the gym.
"Don't Flinch !!" introduces the fictional character of a slight but fierce one-armed fighter named Leona. Born Ethel Rosen on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, she lost her arm in a factory accident, and was determined to fight. Her technique — designed to optimize power in defiance of apparent vulnerability — inspired world class boxers training with her at Main Street, and opened the way for other women to enter the ring.
Don't Flinch !! is part of “Yovaar : Porciuncula [Precious Little Portion]”, a large-scale virtual theatre project that excavates the little-known past, unfolds layers of the present, and imagines wild-mind possibilities for the future of Downtown Los Angeles's largest contiguous undeveloped (and most expensive) parcel of land — the square block between 2nd and 3rd/Main & Spring, a block from City Hall, at the heart of our city.
