Weaving comedic storytelling and the wisdom of lived experience, Whore’s Eye View is a mad dash through 10,000 years of history from a sex worker’s perspective.

Note from the artist

It feels like I have been obsessed with sex worker stories for my entire life. I’ve been working on this show for about five years. I want people to come to this show curious, and leave with skin in the game.

I began writing this show amongst sex worker advocates at an event in New Hampshire to celebrate the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers on December 17, 2019. In January of 2020, I completed the first developmental run as an artist in residence at the Barbershop Theater in Nashville, TN. Working closely with director Carole Montgomery, historian Dr. Charlene Fletcher, and graphic designer Leah Moon, I was able to further develop the show at the Theater Under St. Marks, Q.E.D., and at some very generous people’s apartments in NYC throughout 2021. In 2022, I presented readings of Whore’s Eye View to audiences in Austin, TX, Pittsburgh, PA, and Durham, NC.

We did a five show run at The Tank in NYC earlier this year and then I had the honor of presenting the show at the 12th Biennial San Francisco Bay Area Sex Workers Film & Arts Festival. I was also invited to bring the show to the Cannonball hub of the 2023 Philadelphia Fringe Festival. I’m delighted to be here at Caveat. I am so grateful for all of the artists who have contributed to this piece. I’m honored to be working with dramaturge Stephanie Prugh and director Vanessa Morosco.

Writer & Performer

Kaytlin Bailey is a stand up comic, writer, and a leader in the growing movement to decriminalize sex work.

Kaytlin Bailey started The Oldest Profession Podcast in 2017, where each episode focuses on an “old pro” from history, contextualizing that figure in their own time and connecting their story to the ongoing struggle for sex worker rights. In 2020 she founded Old Pros, a non profit media organization working to change the status of sex workers in society. She developed her first one woman show, Cuntagious, at the Tank Theater in 2015 and the production enjoyed sold out performances and an extended run in multiple NYC theater festivals in 2016.

Kaytlin Bailey has toured with the CAKE Comedy Tour, performing stand up all over the country. She has written for Vice, The Daily Beast, and Washington Blade. Her work has been featured by the New York Times, Paper Magazine, and Broadway World. She has been quoted in Reason, The Washington Post, and the Boston Globe. She has been featured on Lifetime, and appeared on countless podcasts as a comic and expert on the history of sex work.

You can follow her @kaytlinbailey and @oldprosonline, and learn more about her work at kaytlinbailey.com.

Director

Vanessa Morosco (she/her) is a New York based multi-hyphenate theatre practitioner who focuses on the intersectional spirit of collaboration through an ethical framework. As a director, she has created productions for several theatres, including the American Shakespeare Center, Harlem Shakespeare Festival, Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Historic Cultch Theater (Vancouver), Gateway Playhouse, Playhouse on Park, The Tank, and Palm Beach Dramaworks. She is an ongoing collaborator with Clutch Productions in New York, and is deeply committed to developing new plays by women-identifying playwrights. She is currently developing and directing Kaytlin Bailey’s one-woman show Whore’s Eye View.

Vanessa represents one half of the 50/50 SHAKESPEARE PROJECT, which seeks to create gender equity in the workplace of Shakespeare’s plays, and she directed the world premiere of Hamlet 50/50 at Shakespeare Notre Dame in 2023 (5050shakespeare.com). As the co-founder of iMPACT DRAMA, she consults for multinational corporations to create drama-based content for use in training and development, focusing on global diversity and inclusion, unconscious bias, power harassment, and cultural awareness. (impactdrama.net) Vanessa is a member of SDC, AEA, and holds an M.A. in Ethics from Yale University. (vanessamorosco.com)

Dramaturg

Stephanie Alvarado Prugh is a NYC based Dramaturg and Producer. She produces the celebrated Lyrics and Lyricists Series at the 92nd Street Y, New York. Recent dramaturgical works include the award-winning newly revised The Unsinkable Molly Brown (Transport Group, The Muny, Denver Center Theatre Company), and the award-winning new musical, Renascence (Transport Group). Regional Credits include The Glass Menagerie, The Secret Garden and Twelve (Denver Center Theatre Company), Blueprints to Freedom, Indecent, and Guards at the Taj (La Jolla Playhouse). Stephanie holds a PhD in Theatre from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Old Pros Director of Brand & Growth

With a background in documentary filmmaking, design, website development, and online business training, Leah brings respect for and knowledge of mental health, diverse wisdom traditions, and leading edge technology to create unique solutions for each collaboration she undertakes.

Leah Moon studied at Rhode Island School of Design and is a graduate of Smith College with a dual degree in the Study of Women and Gender and Studio Art with a concentration in Electronic Media. In addition to being a Reiki Master Teacher, Leah is also trained as an herbalist, Medicine Caller, and is an award winning photographer.

Leah Moon is an artist and healer who has fully embraced the Internet. She designs and produces branding, online spaces, and business support plans for changemakers. She’s collaborated with Kaytlin Bailey at Old Pros since 2020. You can learn more about her work at withleahmoon.com.

Executive Producer

Old Pros is a non-profit media organization creating conditions to change the status of sex workers in society. Changing minds is critical for driving the cultural and legislative breakthroughs required to secure human rights and opportunities for sex workers. Media, art and storytelling are powerful levers for shifting beliefs and breaking down taboos. Old Pros produces persuasive content and compelling events. We bring people together and we change people’s minds. Old Pros produces a weekly newsletter, The Oldest Profession Podcast, the Old Pros Show in NYC, and Founder & Executive Director Kaytlin Bailey’s live show, Whore’s Eye View.

Follow @oldprosonline on Instagram and Twitter. Stay in the know with the Old Pros weekly newsletter, featuring sex worker rights related news, new podcast episodes, and resource guides to make you a more informed ally.