This Filthy World
March 25, 2010. Cosponsored by the Lewis Center for the Arts/Performance Central and the Spencer Trask Lecture Fund.

In this part-lecture, part-vaudeville performance, Waters speaks candidly and irreverently about the formative influences on his career, Hollywood, the art world, social taboos, and modern culture in general.

Born in Baltimore, Waters began his career making low-budget underground films. His first full-length feature film, Mondo Trasho, appeared in 1969. Waters first came to public attention with Pink Flamingos (1972), Female Trouble (1974), Desperate Living (1977), and Polyester (1981). He entered the mainstream with Hairspray (1988) and Cry-Baby (1990), which were later adapted to the stage. Those successes were followed by Serial Mom (1994), Pecker (1998), Cecil B. DeMented (2000) and A Dirty Shame (2004). Waters writes all his screenplays and is the author of several books, including Crackpot: The Obsessions of John Waters (2003). In addition, he is a photographer whose work appears internationally in galleries and art museums.