The reigning Queen of Ireland, Ms Panti Bliss, shared her story as part of her glamourous one-woman comedy show at IrelandWeek this week in LA.

The national treasure and international LGBT+ icon performed her show Panti Bliss: Live In LA! at the world famous Hollywood Improv on Melrose Avenue for two sell-out nights of laughter during the conference.

In the show, Panti shared her “gender discombobulating, stiletto-shaped world” and exposed “the stories behind the makeup – from becoming a performance giant to an accidental activist.”

Live In LA! also featured a diverse array of guests including actor Chris O’Dowd (Bridesmaids), Victoria Smurfit, Jason O’Mara, Yelpy, Matt Marr, plus IrelandWeek cofounders Deirdre O’Neill Machin and Buzz O’Neill.

IrelandWeek

Panti Bliss also spoke as part of the IrelandWeek conference on Thursday, October 19 in a talk entitled ‘The Cultural Reach: Arts, Music, Culture and Education: Connecting the dots’.

For those unfamiliar with the conference, it is described by its organisers in a press release as follows:

“IrelandWeek is a week-long conference and culture event series from October 16-21, 2017 in Los Angeles, California with the focus to bring Ireland to the world, and the world back to Ireland. For more information on IrelandWeek please visit www.IrelandWeek.com.”

The conference featured a host of other Irish and US-based companies as both guests and sponsors of IrelandWeek.

“Additional guests and sponsors included: Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, The Irish Film Board, Culture Ireland, Creative Ireland, IDA Ireland, Tourism Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, Aer Lingus, The Ireland Funds, The California Irish Legislative Caucus, Kensington Caterers, Bank of Ireland Global Payments, Grant Thornton, Silicon Valley Bank and the Irish Times Abroad.”

The conference focusses on areas of Irish society that are beneficial to the economy like tourism and film production, with this year’s programme including a speech from Star Wars: The Last Jedi director, Rian Johnson, who filmed off the southern coast of Ireland.

(Photo credit: Dean Machin, Event Image Services)