Out-FRONT! Fest. 2026 Presenting: Corentin JPM Leven

Out-FRONT! Fest. A Festival curated by Pioneers Go East Collective and presented in partnership with Judson Memorial Church.

Out-FRONT! Fest is a new dance, performance art, and film festival championing the voices of LGBTQ and Feminist artists for a lively exchange of art and culture. The Out-FRONT! Festival 2026 is curated by Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte, Philip Treviño, Remi Harris, and Joyce Isabelle. The Festival features award-winning artists who enlighten, entertain and promote conversations around aesthetic diversity and personal journeys on the intersection of mutual ideas, cultures, and meanings.

This performance will take place at Judson Memorial Church. General Admission and Free tickets available. All are welcome!

Corentin JPM Leven presents: Birds Of Ill Omen

“Birds of Ill Omen” is a theatre performance contextualizing and problematizing medicalization of the Queer body. What are ways for the queer community to self-identify while also maintaining a productive relationship with the medical community? How can the queer body identify itself when, on the one hand, it has been defined by medicine and, on the other, by popular fabulation? Through his own HIV diagnosis, Leven explores the many roles he, as HIV-positive, must play both socially and in the LGBTQ+ environment. The work explores the tension between science and personal identity in heteronormative contexts, drawing on both the performer's experiences and Queer History. “Birds of Ill Omen” is the second solo performance by Corentin JPM, and is co-created with Ann Mirjam Vaikla, Kim Reenskaug, and Ulf Nilseng. This visual performance sets itself in a space filled with memories and desires. A place between the construction of a monument and the striking silence of a memorial, a space between science and self-definition.

Performance: Corentin JPM Leven

Composer, Musician: Kim Reenskaug

Choreography: Ulf Nilseng

Music: Kim Reenskaug

Design: Ann Mirjam Vaikla

Co-production: Narva Art Residency, Black Box teater, DansiT

This project is supported with funds provided by the Norwegian Consulate General in New York.

Co production: Blackbox Theater, Oslo / DansiT, Trondheim / RAS, SandnesResidency Support: Kordon Residency, HiiumaFinanced by the Norwegian Board of Culture, Free Speech Foundation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Performance Art Hub Norway.

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DIRECTIONS:

Judson Church

243 Thompson Street

New York, NY 10012

Subway:

A, C, E, B, D, F, M to West 4th Street

R to NYU 8th Street.

Accessibility:

Our accessible entrance is by way of 243 Thompson St. Use the lift to get to the Meeting Room on Level 3 or our accessible bathrooms on Level B (basement). Return to Level 1 for street access back to the corner of West 4th & Thompson St.

Photo Credit: Antero Hein