GET USED TO IT!

GET USED TO IT!

GET USED TO IT! is a one-person multimedia performance built from over four decades of queer life on film.

Created and performed by Allegra, the show weaves rare archival footage with live storytelling, moving from the AIDS crisis and early activism to marriage equality and today’s evolving queer and trans communities.

What begins as documentation becomes something more personal. As the stories unfold, it becomes clear that this archive is not just history—it is the evidence of our living.

OPENING NIGHT at AUTOMATA LA

GET USED TO IT! played to a sold-out audience at @automatala in Chinatown, where Allegra shared 17 archival videos woven together with live storytelling. The performance moved across four decades of queer history, blending personal narrative with rare footage to create an intimate, first-hand account of the times.

GET USED TO IT! LIVE

Most archival footage is watched at a distance.

In GET USED TO IT! you experience it differently. The stories behind the images are told live, in the room, creating a sense of connection between past and present—and between everyone watching. It becomes less about observing history, and more about feeling part of it.

For over forty years, I’ve documented the stories and moments that make up queer history—capturing lives, movements, and cultural shifts as they happened, and preserving them through film and ephemera. It is the evidence of our living.

Archive Highlights

AIDS Crisis & ACT UP Era (late ’80s–’90s)
On-the-ground footage from protests, direct action, and a community fighting for survival—when just having a video camera was rare.

Women’s March & Early Reproductive Rights Activism (1989)
Early footage capturing intersectional activism and the presence of queer communities within broader movements.

MTV News Years
Behind-the-scenes and on-camera interviews from a pivotal moments in MTV's history.

Underground Queer Culture & “Girl Happy” (1990s)
A portrait of lesbian and queer life in New York before mainstream visibility, when community was built in bars, streets, and chosen family.

Trans Youth Story (1990s)
One of the earliest documented stories of transgender teenagers navigating identity, family, and survival—decades before mainstream awareness.

Ex-Gay / Conversion Therapy Movement
Rare footage from inside the movement, later connected to the public unraveling of Exodus—demonstrating the power of documentation to create change.

Marriage Equality – California (2008)
Footage from the brief window when same-sex marriage was legalized before Proposition 8—capturing couples at the moment history shifted.

Assimilation Era (2010s)
A look at the period when it felt like rights had been won—and what was lost, gained, or misunderstood during that time.

Queer Life Now (2020s–Present)
Ongoing documentation of a new generation—artists, activists, and communities celebrating queerness today.