Heather MacAllister (performer)

Infobox Person
name = Heather MacAllister


caption =
birth_name =
birth_date = birth date|1968|2|25
birth_place = Michigan, U.S.A.
death_date = death date and age|2007|2|13|1969|2|25
death_place =
other_names = Reva Lucian
Ms. Demeaner
occupation = Political activist, performer
spouse =
domestic_partner =
children =
parents =
website = [http://www.bigburlesque.com/bioframe.html]

Heather MacAllister (February 25, 1968—February 13, 2007) was an American performer and activist. She performed on stage as Reva Lucian and Ms. Demeaner.

Biography

Reva Lucian is the stage name of Heather MacAllister. Heather MacAllister was born in Michigan on the 25th of February 1968 and grew up in Dearborn and Ann Arbor Michigan. She also lived in Tucson Arizona, San Francisco California and Portland Origan.

Heather MacAllister earned a bachelor's degree in anthropology and African American studies from Eastern Michigan University in 1998. From 2000 to 2002, she worked as a field organizer for the Triangle Foundation, a gay rights group in Michigan. Heather MacAllister founded the Venus Group, a social and support network for large women. She also founded Big Burlesque/Fat-Bottom Revue, a performance group of fat artist/activists. On stage she was known as Reva Lucian (a play on the word "revolution"). She conducted size acceptance workshops and/or performances nationwide, including the True Spirit Conference in Washington, D.C., the National Women's Music Festival (IN), the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, Eastern Michigan University, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, the Abundia Retreat (IL), the NOLOSE Conference (NJ), Fat Girl Speaks (OR), and Burning Man (NV). She worked to protect Muslim and Arab-American civil rights after 9-11 and served on the board of Al-Fatiha (the nation’s only national organization for sexual minority Muslms) and on the board of Transgender Michigan (dedicated to protect transgender individuals from discrimination, violence, harassment, and inequality).

Heather MacAllister died on Feb 13 2007, at age 38 as a result of an assisted suicide. Her death came after a 3-year battle with terminal ovarian cancer.

Her most recent public appearance was in the art photography book "The Full Body Project" by photographer and actor Leonard Nimoy (of star trek fame). The book is a compilation of photographs including those taken of Ms. MacAllister and her troupe for a 2005 New York City art photography show called "Maximum Beauty" which opened at the Bonni Benrubi gallery on 57th street in New York City. The book was released in 2007 and dedicated to Heather MacAllister.

During a lifetime of art and activism she took part in fighting sexism, sizeism, racism and apartheid as she helped make "fat" sexy and cool.

ee also

* Guerilla burlesque

External links

*http://katherine-lampe.com/blog/?p=28
*http://fatchicksrule.blogs.com/fat_chicks_rule/2007/02/heather_macalli.html
*http://www.rmichelson.com/Artist_Pages/Nimoy/pages/MaxBeaut.htm
*http://www.nolose.org/activism/heather_mac.php
*http://www.nolose.org/06/hm_keynote.php
*http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/24/BAGE5OAJRC1.DTL
*http://groups.google.com/group/fatgirlfleamarket/browse_thread/thread/9dc26f0fd14f9857
*http://emutalk.org/?p=206
*http://www.transgendermichigan.org/
*http://www.skinnymag.co.uk/content/view/4429/138/
*http://groups.yahoo.com/group/al-fatiha-news/message/1306