Valerie Hager

Valerie Hager is a writer-performer, director, movement artist, and former exotic dancer. She's written six solo shows that have been produced in the US, UK, and Europe. She has been profiled by and reviewed in The New Yorker, The New York Daily News, The Los Angeles Times, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Time Out New York, Time Out Chicago, and many more. Naked In Alaska, her autobiographical solo play about her experience stripping in Alaska, has received rave reviews and been performed over 65 times for over 6,000 audience members. Awards include Edinburgh Fringe (Pick of the Fringe), New York City Fringe (Best Solo Show Award), Chicago Fringe (Audience Favorite Award), and GendErotica Festival (Featured Headliner). She performed Naked In Alaska at the Conference in 2016, and in 2017 the show received a month-long run, produced by Jess Hanna, at Bootleg Theater. She is turning the solo-play Naked In Alaska into a TV series. As a workshop leader, she has teamed up with nationally recognized arts organizations (Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Queens Theatre, and Artworx LA) to bring her work to under served communities and help them tell their stories. She is a graduate of the LAByrinth Theater Ensemble Master Class and has studied extensively with Tim Robbins (The Actors Gang), Tina Kronis (Theatre Movement Bazaar), Fay Simpson (Lucid Body House), Seth Barrish (The Barrow Group), Karen Kohlhaas (Atlantic Theater), and more. Adept at comedy as much as drama, Valerie studied improv at UCB, The PIT, and Second City. Her earliest training came working with her father, renowned San Diego mime Jerry Hager, as his silent sidekick Punky the Clown. Later, she continued to train in mime and movement under Rick Wamer (protégé of Marcel Marceau). More recently, Valerie has been working with individual women to develop and direct their solo shows.