José Sarria is San Francisco's first queer activist. RuPaul owes it all to (and get this long-standing official title) Her Royal Majesty, Empress of San Francisco, José I, the Widow Norton. Even Joe Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) doesn't have a title quite that grand.
Now the elegant story of the grand dame comes to the stage. The oldest continually operating queer theatre in the United States, Theatre Rhinoceros (known affectionately as The Rhino), is bringing the fabulous saga to San Francisco in a new theatrical experience written and directed by John Fisher.
Sex Rev: the Jose Sarria Experience runs through May 2nd.
José Sarria started as a drag performer at SF’s famous Black Cat Café in the early-1950s and rose to fame and popularity as the city’s first openly gay public figures. He ran for supervisor in 1961 and went on to form the Imperial Court System as Her Royal Majesty, Empress of San Francisco, José I, The Widow Norton.
The performance featurs Donald Currie, Tom Orr, and Mike Vega
SexRev is the centerpiece of The Rhino’s residency at Mama Calizo’s Voice Factory, an incubator for exciting new queer performance.
SexRev utilizes a non-linear approach to the presentation of Sarria’s life, drawing on camp, sketch comedy, opera parody and queer confrontation to tell the story of Sarria’s enormous impact on gay entertainment and LGBT politics.
Learn more or buy tickets from therhino.org.
1 comments:
This is a "must see"! The actors are
outstanding. Thank you Theater Rhino
for this innovative (from author to
full cast) brilliant work.
Burl Willes
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