Liberty Bradford Mitchell grew up in the shadow of the adult entertainment industry. Her father was Artie Mitchell, who, along with his brother Jim, opened the San Francisco strip club Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theatre in 1969. The club was praised by Playboy magazine and Hunter S. Thompson, famously despised by Dianne Feinstein during her tenure as mayor, and was one of the first strip clubs to offer fully nude lap dances.
The brothers also released several adult films, including the groundbreaking Behind the Green Door, which screened at the Cannes Film Festival. But their story turned tragic in 1991, when Jim shot and killed Artie.
Mitchell recalls growing up with this pornographic dynasty, and the circumstances surrounding her father's death, in her new solo show, The Pornographer's Daughter. She recently agreed to answer a few questions for SF Weekly.
With so much history at the Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theater, how did you decide what to put in the show?
The show is about my experience, personally, growing up as the pornographer's daughter. I do give some tentpole reference to the theater, but really it's my personal experience growing up in my family. I just try to speak for myself.
The Write Stuff is a series of interview profiles conducted by Litseen, where authors give exclusive readings from their work.
Dan Sanders used to live in Philadelphia but now he lives in Oakland. He writes about his awkward interactions with strangers at Public Transportation Horrors. He posts short, short fiction every Sunday at 6 PM at Short Sunday when he isn't distracted by other projects. He can be found on Twitter at @DonSamders.
When people ask what do you do, you tell them... ?
I try to dodge the question as best I'm able. If I'm pressed, I'll say "I have a generic office job" because that's how I pay my bills. I don't want to say "Writer" because the conversation that follows would require too much explaining if they had even the most polite follow up question. It requires too many qualifiers and weird, too-personal background information about why I call myself one thing but do something else all day. For a while I thought about changing my response to "MAILMAN!" because it seemed like the most respectable occupation with the fewest possible follow up questions.
Being able to honestly say that I'm a writer will be my proudest achievement, replacing "Never asking another human being what they do for a living" at the number one spot.
What's your biggest struggle -- work or otherwise?
I don't have a lot of confidence in anything I do. It makes it difficult to trust what I'm writing and leads to my drinking too much at parties.
