“Body Shots X: Yas Queen” will be held Friday at the Francis-Booth Experimental Theatre in the Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center.

The multimedia experience of vocal and visual productions will begin at 7 p.m. with a reception following. The event was organized by Professor Greta Rensenbrink and produced by Professor Robin Riner of the sociology department at Marshall and Professor Hilary Brewster of the English department.

“We started last spring thinking of what theme we were going to go with,” Brewster said.

The theme of Body Shots this year is “Yas Queen,” which Brewster described as “anything relating to a queen, even in the loosest sense.”

The acts that will be on display during the event are two dances, a discussion of dance, a comedy sketch, lectures and more that will be presented in about one hour and 15 minutes.

“The purpose of body shots is a visual multimedia performance,” Brewster said.

Body Shots will display work from faculty, students, community members, and special guest Junious Brickhouse from Washington, D.C.

“It’s usually really fun,” Riner said. “People love it because it’s not your typical academic presentation model, but it still deals with important issues just in a very different way. So, people usually respond really well to it.”

Brewster said the theme of Body Shots last year was body shaming, but the theme this year is a broader scope.

“The term ‘yas queen’ has been popularized by white people from shows like ‘Broad City,’ but it originated from queer people of color,” Brewster said. “We just want to make sure we are acknowledging and identifying the origins of the term and not appropriating it culturally, because we in the College of Liberal Arts care about those things,”

The night will feature a mix of content.

“Even though the theme is called ‘yas queen,’ not everything has to do with ‘yas queen,’” Riner said. “It’s more about queens generally.”

She added that the experience is slightly not safe for work, so the night may not be appropriate for small children.

“Body Shots X: Yas Queen” is Rensenbrink’s final body shots production, and her final year at Marshall. This year is the tenth anniversary of body shots.

“[Body shots] is her brainchild. She has done all the work,” Brewster said.

The event is sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts, the department of history, the department of sexuality studies, the women’s center, the department of women’s studies, and the department of sociology and anthropology.

Alexia Lilly can be contacted at [email protected].