Penny Arcade (performer)

Penny Arcade , is an American performance artist, actress, and playwright based in New York City.

Susana Ventura was born in New Britain, Connecticut, and grew up in a working class Italian immigrant family. Her mother was abusive and her father was mentally ill. At ageshe ran away from home and spent a summer homeless in Provincetown. She was sent to Sacred Heart Academy for Wayward Girls, a reform school, where she was released at age 16. With money stolen from a sandwich shop where she worked, she left for New York City, where she changed her name to Penny Arcade after an LSD trip. Jamie Andrews of MainMan management company rescued her off the streets.

Source: Wikipedia