When is the last time you saw full frontal nudity in the theater? Was it “Hair”, “Oh, Calcutta!” or maybe “The Blue Room”? Maybe you have never seen a play with nudity in it, well, here is your chance to experience the liberating effect of live theater specifically designed to give you the feeling that your body - despite its quirks or flaws - is OK just the way it is.

Laurence Bryan, my old friend and classmate from DePaul, is the Artistic Director of National Pastime Theater and he has assembled a really wonderful assortment of plays that each utilizes nudity in an artistically sound fashion. I have already seen two of the one act plays, “The Emperor’s New Clothes” deftly directed by another talented DePaul Alumna, Carolyne Anderson, and “The Living Canvas: Demons”.

I highly recommend buying the festival pass or daily pass to enjoy more than one show because they are all very different in their approach, some farcical, and some more sensual or dance oriented and taken in combination you really get the full effect of  a democracy of positive body image that the Naked July Festival is trying to convey.

“The Emperor’s New Clothes” is a light, funny, very clever take on the original tale by Hans Christian Andersen with a satirical political twist thrown in for good measure.

“The Living Canvas: Demons”, is the seventh show by this company, directed by founder Pete Guither and, by using projected light over nude dancer and actors bodies, beautifully portrays the journey into the mind of an autistic girl and her sister’s attempt to understand that world. It was tremendously moving and exciting to watch. The performance of the lead dancer Emily Mark, who portrays Lily the autistic, was worth noting as she was not only an accomplished dancer but also an accomplished actor in expressing without words a very precise and deeply moving sense of what it must be like to be trapped in a body and mind afflicted with Autism. Also, I think it is a tremendously courageous task to undertake a role like this involving nudity from beginning to end. The neat thing about “Living Canvas” shows is that at the end they allow the audience to strip down and join them onstage under the lights and a lot of people actually went for it and joined in. That in itself was a beautiful, free love kind of thing to see happen in a theater setting in the year 2010, not 1968!

I’ll be honest, I was skeptical. I have always felt that nudity in the theater is something to be avoided at all costs to avoid damaging the delicate psyche of a good actor. However, when it is undertaken in the way that Naked July Festival has with a real eye for liberal thought and artistic merit, it is a tremendously exciting and liberating experience rarely encountered in traditional theater going.

I especially enjoy returning to the atmospheric and historic National Pastime Theater (4139 N. Broadway), which was an actual speakeasy for almost twenty years and fills it’s lobby with wonderful local artwork for sale in the theme of the shows currently running.

I highly recommend attending the Naked July Festival: Art Stripped Down, and I look forward to seeing the last two pieces, “Eros” and “The Tumultuous Tale of the Tragically Transparent Tunic” next weekend. See you there!

Call 773.327.7077 for performance times or check in at www.np2.com.