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Gina Young Collection

 Collection
Identifier: YOUN

Scope and Contents

This collection contains the physical and digital personal memorabilia, ephemera, and notes of the performing artist and creator Gina Young. Materials from the physical collection include postcards, program and event flyers, performance programs, zines, DVD and CDs, and marketing materials. Digital materials are photos taken by Young of personal materials including custom mixed and ogicial CDs, customized boxes covered in stickers, flyers for events, vinyl covers, zines, photographs, and a theatrical script. Event flyers associated with music, performing arts, and activist groups and events such as riot grrrls, Young’s TEAM GINA, The Estro Tribe, the Lesbian Avengers, Queercore Blitz, Homo a Gogo, and Bands Against Bush.

Dates

  • Creation: 1998-2020

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

The rights to this collection belong to the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs.

Biographical / Historical

Gina Young (she/they) was born in Washington D.C. She came from a family of musicians and starred in school musicals like Bye Bye Birdie, sang professionally, and acted on local television shows. As a young adult, she studied acting at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. During this time she wrote and directed plays at the WOW Cafe Theatre and played her guitar at open mic nights. She began touring nationally and internationally as a solo singer and songwriter. In the mid-2000s, her performance art pop duo TEAM GINA went viral on YouTube with the original music video “Butch/Femme.” In the early 2010s, Gina moved to Los Angeles to work for Vh1’s Emmy-winning series, Pop Up Video. She has developed several scripts for film and television, all while continuing her theater work. Her performing arts projects have been featured by REDCAT, The Hammer Museum, USC’s Visions and Voices Series, Los Angeles Performance Practice, the Los Angeles LGBT Center, and the Women’s Center for Creative Work. In 2018, she was a finalist for the Center Theatre Group’s Richard E. Sherwood Award. In 2019, she published a comedic play, Femmes: A Tragedy, which earned the Jane Chambers Award for Playwriting. She has also won the HUMANITAS/PLAY LA Prize. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Kilroys. Her recent work includes founding and curating the performing arts group SORORITY. This salon focuses on centering the work and voices of women, trans, and queer Los Angeles performing artists. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they are building up their YouTube archive and producing online events. She is also the creator of Feminist Acting Class.

Extent

.5 Linear Feet (1 box)

51 Megabytes

Language of Materials

English

Physical Location

Gina Young’s materials are both physical and digital. The digital assets are currently being housed on the Mazer’s local digital storage and cloud-based digital storage. The physical assets are housed at the Mazer Archives.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Casey Winkleman, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation intern with the UCLA Community Archives Lab, met Gina Young in January of 2020. Casey went to go see Gina’s production of STRAIGHT PLAY (a queer beach blanket bingo musical) at Son of Semele Theater. Following the show, Casey asked if Gina would be interested in donating materials to the Mazer, and Gina responded enthusiastically. After some email correspondence, Gina sent the Mazer a batch of physical and digital materials in October 2020. [Written: Lisa Kahn, February 8, 2021]

Title
Gina Young Collection
Status
Completed
Author
Lisa Kahn
Date
October 2020
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives Repository