Sappho’s Salon: An Evening at the Temple of Friendship

NOTES ABOUT TICKETS 5/6/26: If a show is marked as Sold Out, you can join the waiting list in case a spot opens up.

Please plan to arrive by 7:00 PM. Doors close promptly at 7:15 PM. Due to the immersive nature of this experience, guests arriving after 7:15 will not be able to participate in the upstairs portion of the show. Late arrivals may be admitted to the downstairs salon, which begins around 7:45 PM, if capacity allows. No exceptions can be made. Please plan accordingly!

On our waiting list? Thank you for your interest! Each show is capped at 15 guests and paid ticket holders enter first, so standby spots are unlikely but not impossible. If you'd like to try: arrive at or before show time. If a ticket holder hasn't shown by the final entry round (~15 min after start), their spot opens first-come, first-served. Doors close after that; no late entry. Bring cash/Venmo just in case. We can't guarantee entry, but we appreciate you!

— You Are Cordially Invited —

Every Friday for decades, Natalie Clifford Barney opened the doors of her Paris salon to artists, thinkers, and lovers of beauty and truth. Now, for eight intimate performances across two weekends in May, you are invited to step through that door.

Sappho’s Salon is an immersive, multi-floor theater experience honoring the radical sapphic artists who gathered at Barney’s legendary Temple of Friendship. Downstairs, you’ll be a guest at the salon itself, witnessing readings, performances, philosophical debates, and the kind of conversation that only happens when queer women and artists gather in a space that shouldn’t exist according to the world’s rules. Upstairs, wander through intimate rooms where extraordinary women come alive: a burlesque tease from Marlene Dietrich, a philosophy lesson from Hypatia, a Charleston dance lesson with Bricktop, Virginia Woolf’s interactive writing room, and more.

This is not a show you watch from the outside. You are a guest. Your voice matters. Your presence changes the evening. Come as you are.

Inspired by Selby Wynn Schwartz’s novel After Sappho and expanded from our sold-out November 2025 pilot at Dyke+ ArtHaus.

Performance Details

Dates: 8 performances across two weekends

Weekend 1: Friday May 1 (7pm) | Saturday May 2 (2pm + 7pm) | Sunday May 3 (7pm)

Weekend 2: Friday May 8 (7pm) | Saturday May 9 (2pm + 7pm) | Sunday May 10 (7pm)

Location: Dyke+ ArtHaus, 709 N 40th St, Philadelphia

Capacity: LIMITED TO 15 GUESTS PER PERFORMANCE. Reserve early. These will go fast.

Includes: Refreshments and chocolate cake. A proper salon requires proper refreshments.

Runtime: Approximately 2 hours, optional 30 minutes afterward for cocktail hour.

What to Expect

You’ll arrive at Dyke+ ArtHaus and be welcomed into the salon as a guest of Natalie Barney herself. The evening unfolds across two floors:

DOWNSTAIRS - THE SALON: A salon play where you’ll witness and participate in conversations among Natalie Barney, Romaine Brooks, Radclyffe Hall, Kiki de Montparnasse, Eva Palmer-Sikelianos, and Yoshiya Nobuko. Expect readings, debates, flirtation, philosophical provocations, and the occasional uncomfortable truth. The boundaries between 1927 and now dissolve.

UPSTAIRS - THE ROOMS: Wander through intimate rooms where extraordinary sapphic artists come alive through 10-minute looping performances. Each night features a rotating cast of four performers, so no two evenings are exactly alike. You might stumble upon Marlene Dietrich mid-burlesque tease, join a philosophy class with Hypatia of Alexandria, learn the Charleston from Bricktop, sit for a portrait by Marie Laurencin, or encounter Sappho herself.

The Salon Cast (Downstairs)

Natalie Clifford Barney - Danielle Levsky

The Amazon of Letters. Salon hostess, writer, and your host for the evening.

Romaine Brooks - Ashley Davis

American painter known for her moody, muted portraits of the women in Barney’s circle. Natalie’s difficult, brilliant anchor.

Radclyffe Hall - Ania Upstill

British author of The Well of Loneliness, the landmark lesbian novel banned for obscenity. Known in the salon as “John.”

Eva Palmer-Sikelianos - Mr Stine

American actress and theater director who devoted her life to reviving ancient Greek theater. Natalie’s former love.

Kiki de Montparnasse - Jen Fellman

Model, performer, and Queen of Montparnasse. Bold, unfiltered, and utterly magnetic.

Yoshiya Nobuko - Rosin Kuroyama

Pioneering Japanese writer of lesbian literature who traveled from across the world to be at the salon.

The Rooms (Upstairs - Rotating Cast)

Each performance features four upstairs artists in rotating rooms. The lineup changes nightly, so every visit offers a different experience.

Rosa Darling as Marlene Dietrich

The notorious bisexual icon, embodied through a burlesque peep show tease. Rosa is a flapper and burlesque artist who ran a vintage chorus girl dance company here in Philly.

Victoria Reno as Ada “Bricktop” Smith

The legendary nightclub owner and entertainer, brought to life through jazz singing, burlesque, and a Charleston dance lesson. Victoria has been performing burlesque for over 10 years.

Lauren Yates as Josephine Baker

The iconic dancer and activist, embodied through dance, spoken word, and burlesque as ritual. Lauren is a burlesque performer and poet based in Philadelphia. She is known for incorporating cosplay, spoken word, and occasional live singing into her multimedia performances.

Oliver Jane Jorgensen as Virginia Woolf

The literary legend, brought to life through Lecoq clown, character work, and interactive installation. Oliver Jane has an MFA in Devised Performance from the Pig Iron School.

Alison Lubar as Hypatia of Alexandria

The queer-coded philosopher, embodied through a Socratic philosophy school with guitar. Alison is a poet, educator, and all-around brilliant mind.

GC Harper as Loïe Fuller

The pioneering dancer known for her serpentine dance and lighting experiments, brought to life through dance and movement. GC is an immersive theater maker who produced an immersive adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Lizzy de Lise as Isadora Duncan

Embodied through an immersive sound/performance experience exploring the heard and unheard. Lizzy was part of our original Sappho’s Salon cast in November and we’re thrilled to have them back.

Jesterbug as Sappho

The OG sapphic poet herself, embodied through folk singing and poetry readings of Sappho’s fragments. Having Sappho appear in the flesh feels poetically right.

Robyn Wheelock as Marie Laurencin

Painter and friend of Natalie Barney, embodied through live portrait-making and conversation with audiences. Robyn is a painter, preschool teacher, and host of the Word of Mouth storytelling salons.

Poets in Residence

Every great salon needs its poets. Ours are brought in throughout the evening. Meet our contemporary voices speaking across time to Sappho herself:

Rowan Mucci (they/them/themme) Rowan believes in the accessibility of art and aims to foster community connections through authenticity and kindness. A fixture of Philadelphia's open-mic scene, they host the monthly variety show Your Sunday Best, co-founded the artist collective Artists@Guzo, and help run the writing circle for Day Trolley in West Philly. Their work uses poetry and visual art to invite conversations around the taboo. @row_mucci · @gro_project_ro Performing May 1, 2, 3, 8 & 9 at 7pm

rough draft (Taylor Townes) rough draft is a poet, mixed media artist, storyteller, and DJ born and raised in Philadelphia. As Taylor Townes, she is Co-Director of Blue Stoop, a home for Philly writers, and Program Coordinator for The Philadelphia Cultural Fund. @r0ughdraft_ Performing May 2 & May 9 at 2pm

Cassidy Arrington Cassidy Arrington is a nonbinary multi-media artist based in and from Philadelphia, PA. Arrington’s artwork centers survival, transience, and grief in queer and Black coming of age. Their poetry has been featured in places like Healing Verse Poetry Line, Sinister Wisdom Literary Journal, and the Yale University Art Gallery, while their photographs and films have been displayed at Scribe Video Center, Maysles Documentary Center, New York University, and beyond. Arrington graduated from Yale College with a BA in Ethnicity, Race, & Migration Studies, and has served as a resident artist at the TILT Institute for the Contemporary Image, the Painted Bride Art Center, and currently, the Da Vinci Art Alliance. Performing May 10 at 7pm

Performance Schedule & Upstairs Lineup

Each night features a different combination of four upstairs performers, so every performance is unique:

The downstairs salon cast performs at every show.

Ticket Types & Pricing

Sliding scale tickets. Please pay what feels sustainable for you. If you’re able to pay at the higher end, you’re helping make this work accessible to our entire community.

All tickets include refreshments and chocolate cake.

Each performance is limited to 15 guests to maintain the intimate salon atmosphere.

Total capacity per show: 15 seats

Total capacity across all 8 shows: 120 seats

Content Notes

This performance includes discussions of queer identity, historical oppression, class dynamics, and relationship conflicts. There will be references to historical figures’ complex politics (including problematic views). The show aims to hold these complexities honestly rather than sanitize history. Burlesque performance upstairs includes partial nudity.

Accessibility: Stairs

This production takes place across multiple floors of a historic West Philly rowhome. Please be aware that the venue is not wheelchair accessible and involves significant stair navigation throughout the experience. There are 4 stairs leading up to the entrance of the house, approximately 32 stairs inside the venue total, and 3 stairs down to the garden area.

If you have questions about accessibility, please reach out to us at the emails below.

Liability Waiver

All guests will be asked to sign a brief liability waiver upon arrival. The waiver covers assumption of risk related to navigating the multi-level venue, proximity to performers in an immersive setting, low lighting, and consent to photography/video for promotional use.

You may opt out of photography by notifying a crew member at the door.

Credits

Created & Directed by Ania Upstill & Danielle Levsky

Co-Produced with Dyke+ ArtHaus / Juno Rosenhaus

Written & Devised by Danielle Levsky, Ania Upstill, Jen Fellman, Rosin Kuroyama, Rose Palmieri, Lane LaVonne, Liz de Lise, Mr Stine, Ashley“Tulsi” Davis

Supported by Leeway Art & Change Grant

Questions? Contact danielle.levsky@gmail.com and ania.upstill@gmail.com

Venez. Come as you are. The salon belongs to all of us

who are brave enough to walk through that door.