Underneath the Skin

Underneath the Skin, commissioned by NYU Skirball, is a dance theater work based on the fantastical life of Samuel Steward (1909-1993), a gay novelist, tattoo artist, author of erotic fiction, and unabashed sexual adventurer, who lived a bold life pursuing his physical and erotic desires through his art.

Underneath yhe Skin is a work that aims to introduce its audiences to the brave life of a creative spirit, and reaffirm the persistence and mettle of social outsiders. Evidence of the lives of most gay men from the pre-Stonewall generations have not come down to us, as these were decades when it was impossible to be ‘out’. The lives of gay, lesbian, and trans people were largely undocumented, been erased, or forgotten, and are therefore missing from our histories.