Penny Arcade (performer)

Penny Arcade (born Susana Carmen Ventura, July 15, 1950) is an American performance artist, actress, and playwright based in New York City.

[5] During this time, she was brought to juvenile court and sentenced to two years at the Sacred Heart Academy for Wayward Girls, a reform school run by the semi-cloistered Sisters Of The Good Shepherd.

with Curtis, Mary Woronov, Jayne County and Patti Smith, followed by a small role in the Paul Morrissey / Andy Warhol film, Women in Revolt.

[4] In 1971, Arcade turned down a role in the London production of Andy Warhol's play Pork, choosing instead to join Vaccaro and The Playhouse of the Ridiculous in Amsterdam.

"[4] Arcade returned to New York City in 1981 to appear in The Playhouse of The Ridiculous's remounting of their 1970 hit Night Club by Kenneth Bernard for LaMama's 20th anniversary at Ellen Stewart's request.

In the spring of 1982 she improvised her first performance piece in Hibiscus’s show Tinsel Town Tirade at Theater for The New City, receiving her first writer's credit.

[8] The New York Times refers to the character as "patently unbelievable", but in a later article acknowledges that her monologue was "based on real Lower East Side residents."

Premiering in 1990 at Performance Space 122, and running off broadway at The Village Gate 1992-1993 Arcade began touring internationally in 1993 with her most presented show, Bitch!

The Village Gate marquee in New York is still adorned with her name and the title of her performance piece Politics, Sex & Reality, although the nightclub no longer exists.

[11] profiled individuals have included Judith Malina, Lee Breuer, Tom O'Horgan, Sarah Schulman, Betty Dodson, Quentin Crisp, ], Jayne County,Danny Fields and Marty Matz, among others.

The production was directed by Cosmin Chivu with music by Jesse Selengut, and previewed at the eighth annual Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival in Massachusetts, prior to its six-week run in New York at the New Ohio Theatre in the West Village where it was nominated for a Drama League Award as Best Revival.