Actress and artist Heather Litteer turns a life of risk and freedom into bold storytelling art

Heather Litteer has a story to tell — actually, she’s got quite a few. Since moving to New York City from Atlanta in 1990, she’s accumulated some life experiences that most people only read about.

Far from her previous life, where she was a teen model and “taught young girls how to walk down runways in the ’80s” in a charm school, she graduated to a scene that wasn’t even imaginable when she was on her high school track and tennis teams.

Although she gave higher education a shot, Litteer dropped out of a community college back home and then Hunter in the city because, she says, “I just loved the nightlife too much.”

“I was a member of the ‘House of Domination’ with Kitty Boots, Chi Chi Valenti and Johnny Dynell – that was my college,” she states. “I got my bachelor’s degree in the streets, my master’s at [the legendary West Village club] Jackie 60, my PHD with The Big Art Group, and now, I’m working on my doctorate,” she jokes. “I learned everything on my own — which sometimes was dangerous.”

Heather Litteer’s wild journey in a gritty NYC

Litteer, known then as Jessica Rabbit Domination, was a vital part of the Jackie 60 scene while she also “worked in all the clubs in the 90s … I was a cage dancer at The Limelight, I worked at the Palladium, Danceteria, the Tunnel, Save the Robots, Coney Island High, Pyramid…I worked everywhere.”

One of the more steady gigs was dancing at Billy’s Topless, which Litteer describes as a “‘Cheers’ with tits … but it also felt like ‘Mean Streets’ sometimes. You never knew who would come in, famous actors or rock stars.”

Heather Litteer performing with Yoshiko Chuma’s “School of Hard Knocks”Photo by Bob Krasner

Heather Litteer with Paul Wallfisch, performing her piece “Manhattan” on the steps of the Public Theater for NY Pops UpPhoto by Bob Krasner

Heather Litteer performing a monologue at the Howl! gallery, with the artwork of Tom Murrin, The Alien Comic, in the backgroundPhoto by Bob Krasner

Heather Litteer performing at Low Life 8 at the PyramidPhoto by Bob Krasner

In a quantum leap from the experience that “turned me onto acting – being in Marlo Thomas’ ‘Free To Be You And Me’ in the second grade,” Litteer was now being cast in Jackie Playhouse productions as Heidi Fleiss, JonBenet Ramsey and Courtney Love, to name a few.

“I did a great Courtney Love!” she declares. “I got a lot of knowledge from that scene. … I learned a lot about pop culture and art, and they became my family. Everybody took care of each other. I learned to love people for who they are.”

In the 2000s, those clubs faded into history as Litteer found more mainstream acting work, notably in films by Jane Campion and Darren Aronofsky, although the latter has turned out to be a mixed blessing.

People still talk about her intense scene with Jennifer Connelly in “Requiem for a Dream,” but, she says, “that’s not the only thing I want to be remembered for.”

Not one to sit still, Litteer has become something of a Renaissance woman and the online definition of the term suits her perfectly: “an empowered, multi-passionate individual who cultivates diverse interests and skills, embracing a holistic blend of intellectual, creative, physical, and social capabilities to define her own narrative and break free from conventional limitations.”

To that point, consider her partial resume, which includes writing and starring in a one-woman show, “Lemonade”; creating and performing in a recurring cabaret variety show called “The Pleasure Seekers”; singing in the East Village supergroup Rimbaud Hattie; performing site specific performance art in Tompkins Square Park; creating a literary event for women, “WOeRD”; and “On The Verge”, a yearly arts festival that “highlights femme and non-binary artists” as well as occasionally going out to create abstract art with a whip in lieu of a paint brush.

Heather Litteer performing “Cautionary Kiss” at the entrance to Tompkins Square Park during the COVID lockdownPhoto by Bob Krasner

Heather Litteer belting it out at Pangea during her “Pleasure Seekers” showPhoto by Bob Krasner

Heather Litteer with guest Julian Fleisher at the “Pleasure Seekers” showPhoto by Bob Krasner

Heather Litteer with her abstract painting, created using the whip as a brushPhoto by Bob Krasner

Litteer is a storyteller at heart, whether through her monologues or her acting, poetry or painting.

She recalls the first time that she performed solo, noting that it was “terrifying – but exciting and healing. I love to tell stories and entertain. If I’m not creating or performing I get depressed.”

Reflecting on the route she’s taken, Litteer says, “I could have finished college, gotten married, bought a house, had kids — but I didn’t. I chose freedom, and there’s a price. I sacrificed to be an artist and it’s really, really hard sometimes.”

She’s toured all over the world, most recently performing in a musical in Berlin called “Oktoberfest.” Home again and far away from the days when she slept on a futon on the floor and her boyfriend kept a BB gun nearby to shoot the rats, Litteer is full of plans.

Heather Litteer about to pop her cork at the “Pleasure Seekers” showPhoto by Bob Krasner

Rimbaud Hattie at the Parkside Lounge: L-R, Doug Bressler, John Kelly, Heather Litteer , Julie HairPhoto by Bob Krasner

Heather Litteer with Julie Atlas Muz at the opening night of Litteer’s “On The Verge” festival at The Wild ProjectPhoto by Bob Krasner

This Friday, Aug. 29, she will perform “The Doors Just Keep On Swinging,” a series of autobiographical monologues at the Gene Frankel Theater. Litteer describes it as a “coming-of-age story—middle age.”

Beyond that, she “would like to do a cool independent film, maybe have a nice run in an HBO series. I want to produce friends’ works, give back to the community”.

“I’m at a different point in my life now,” she continues. “I’m a performer, a storyteller, a writer. … I love glamour, I’m sassy, I’m a lover of life and people and experience. I love to be emotionally moved. I’m still curious and I want to find and experience new things. I don’t want to do anything else. I’m not done yet.”

Heather Litteer announces upcoming shows on Instagram at @heatherlitteer. Ticket info for “The Doors Just Keep On Swinging” can be found at genefrankeltheatre.com/s-and-m-stories-and-monologues-the-doors-just-keep-on-swinging—gail-thacker.html