(Orlando, FL) Orlando Fringe is back with a wide variety of ticketed performances, a free outdoor stage, an eclectic visual art gallery, and kids’ activities. While there’s simply too much Fringe to cover in a single article, we are doing a series of posts about this incredible Orlando event. In this fourth installment for the 2024 season, we’re joining renowned comedian, writer, and advocate Kaytlin Bailey to discuss the history and complex realities facing sex workers of past and present. Let’s get into the Whore’s Eye View!
Freaks of HHN was honored to be invited to attend the opening night performance of this important and timely production. Thank you, Orlando Fringe and Kaytlin Bailey, for having us out!
What is Orlando Fringe?
Whore’s Eye View is playing at Orlando Fringe, a two-week theater festival focused on unjuried and uncensored works of performance art. While similar festivals exist all over the world, Orlando Fringe is the longest running event of its kind within the United States. Fringe Festivals are generally known for featuring alternative or experimental pieces of art, so you really never know what you’re going to find!
Learn more about Orlando Fringe, and see this year’s digital program at orlandofringe.org.
About Kaytlin Bailey
A well-respected rights advocate, seasoned writer, and accomplished comedian; New York-based Kaytlin Bailey is constantly working to improve legal and cultural conditions for current and future sex workers. Utilizing her varied talents for the cause, Kaytlin has been quoted in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, New York Post, The Village Voice, The Nation, Reason, and on NBC. She is even the founder and executive director of Old Pros, a nonprofit media organization focused on changing the status of sex workers in our society.
Learn more about Kaytlin Bailey and her vital work at kaytlinbailey.com.
Whore’s Eye View
Photo by: Ziad Elkawlak
A 60-minute, one-woman show; Whore’s Eye View is a passionate and informative production exploring thousands of years of history, prejudice, and the cultural realities surrounding sex work (as well as female sexuality as a whole). Using visual aides and plenty of humor, Kaytlin is able to dissect these complicated topics in an effective, entertaining, and memorable way.
Whore’s Eye View, according to the Orlando Fringe website:
Whore’s Eye View is a mad dash through 10,000 years of history from a sex worker’s perspective.
Weaving history, comedic storytelling, and the wisdom of lived experience, Kaytlin Bailey artfully unpacks the complex, age-old stigma underpinning a status quo designed to keep women in their place. The eye opening message in Whore’s Eye View is a compassionate, clarion call, a crash course in history, and a game changing roadmap for progress that can be sustained once and for all.
Freaky Thoughts: Whore’s Eye View
Equal parts advocacy lecture and comedy special, Whore’s Eye View is a hilarious and fascinating journey through the struggles and successes of sex workers from the past and present. Artfully tackling significant topics such as sexism, violence against women, and actual solutions to improve sex worker safety and cultural respect; Whore’s Eye View should be required watching for any adult hoping to make our society a more welcoming and positive space.
As a woman raised in the midst of purity culture and the early 2000’s unrealistic body ideals, I found Whore’s Eye View to be a sobering look at the minimization and at times literal villainization of female sexuality – for sex workers and beyond. I left the theater aware, inspired, and ready to support Kaytlin and others striving to support sex worker rights.
There’s lots of words I can use to describe Whore’s Eye View – funny, captivating, illuminating, etc – but the word I really want to say is “important.” Whore’s Eye View is an important production for our shifting culture and societal views.
DO NOT MISS Whore’s Eye View – playing at the Renaissance Theatre Company this Fringe season!
Getting Tickets to Whore’s Eye View
Whore’s Eye View will run on select dates and times now through May 26. To buy your tickets, check out the Orlando Fringe virtual box office.
Because 100% of the base ticket price is given directly to the respective artists, you will also need to purchase a reusable 2024 Fringe Festival button. Buttons are $10 and grant access to all the performances at this year’s event (along with an individually purchased show ticket). No matter how many productions you plan to see, you only need one button per person, per year.
Know Before You Go
- A 2024 Fringe Festival button (and show ticket) is required to visit any performance. You can purchase your button online.
- Parking at Orlando Fringe can be tricky. Make sure you arrive early to allow plenty of time to locate a suitable spot and travel to the show location.
- Whore’s Eye View is NOT located on the main Fringe campus. Instead, please go to the Renaissance Theatre Company (415 E Princeton St Orlando) for this production.
