Help People get their groove Back

"Helping people get their groove back," says Punany Poets founder Jessica Holter, when asked about her group's purpose. To be perfectly clear, while the performance-art and spoken-word troupe is definitely eroticized, its stage show is as much an intellectual exercise as a sexual one. "When people think punany, they think pussy," she admits. But to her, the concept is just as mental as physical. Being onstage and acting out fantasies, desires, and fears is a form of therapy for both audience and performer, says Holter, who bravely reveals she is still grappling with her own rape and molestation issues. Meanwhile, Keno, the lone male Punany Poet, uses his stage time to show that it's okay for men to be in touch with their feminine side, even if society doesn't always promote that kind of awareness. "A lot of guys are like, 'Dude, how do you do that?'" he says with a laugh, adding, "You don't always have to be the strong-arm guy." And for singer and actress Kween, becoming a Punany Poet was a way for her to reconcile her own sexuality with her Afro-feminist consciousness. It's empowering, she says, for "women not to be ashamed of themselves as sexual beings."

The ensemble's mission has evolved since its humble beginnings in the mid-'90s, when rapper Eazy E's death from AIDS provided a wake-up call for the hip-hop generation. But as she's gotten older, Holter has come to realize that safe sex is about expanding the erotic comfort zone as well as preventing STDs. Preceding The Vagina Monologues by several years, the Oakland-based collective first gained national attention after an appearance on HBO's Real Sex program; their fan base currently includes bisexual, lesbian, gay, and straight singles and couples across the country. It's safe to say that people can't get enough Punany -- a DVD of their live show is selling briskly, and Holter proudly shows off some fan e-mails, full of gushing testimonials about how seeing the Poets perform "freed my mind to be a better lover."

The current Punany production, The Second Sin, coming to Berkeley's Black Repertory Theater this Saturday, has already played in New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Washington, Chicago, Detroit, and Houston. And though the troupe toured the Bible Belt, the only protest against its act came in, of all places, Denver. But while the show features adult entertainment actress Vanessa Blue, don't get it twisted: It's not porn. Granted, The Second Sin features "provocative content," Holter says. But she notes that women can "be sexy without being naked," adding, "not that I don't get naked; I just don't do it onstage." -- Eric K. Arnold