Extra Credit #1: Karen Anzoategui's Catholic School Daze

     I went to this performance knowing nothing of Karen Anzoategui's performances. As a single person performance it was very intimate. She was the only person onstage during all times even though she was not the only character on stage. Before the show began, we were told to walk among the set and Karen who was on the floor. To me, Karen playing the people in her life so believably shows how much she is affected by their past actions. The life that she is able to bring to her performances shows the strong love and hatred that she experienced in her life. She showed her pain and experiences through comedy and a retelling of her life through her teenage self's eyes. It felt so ludicrous and unbelievable that she was falsely accused of kissing Amanda Rodriguez and was forced to come out in this way. Throughout the performance we saw how she dealt with her Catholic school and her religious world at home and how those were both against her queer identity. The end of the performance is a scene of Karen deeply cutting herself on both shoulders. Those scars are real. She survived and tells this deeply moving story through her performance of Catholic School Daze. After the performance she shared bread and told every member of the audience, "You're beautiful." I also loved this part of the performance. We were not just people watching a story, we are all connected and our stories interconnect with one another.