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Phillip Chavira: Keeping Color On Stage
Phillip Chavira, recently hired as the new Executive Director of the Intiman Theater, has a motto: “Keep color on stage.” And he means it. Prior to moving to the Emerald City some three-and-a-half months ago, Chavira produced Eclipsed on Broadway in New York City, which featured the first-ever all-female cast, playwright and directing team on the famous theatrical thoroughfare.
The Painful, Joyful, Wild Ride of Intiman’s Barbecue
Barbeque, written by Robert O’Hara and directed by Malika Oyetimein, is a breath of fresh air in a city which so desperately tries to prove how progressive it is. It’s a hilarious and honest performance that will leave you fucked up just like your family did.
Starting in a Good Place: Wes Hurley and Little Potato
Seattle filmmaker Wes Hurley recently debuted his newest project, Little Potato, to cheering audiences at SXSW. Metaphorically, the movie (co-directed by Nathan Miller) is a story about suffering repression and experiencing relief. Literally, though, the story is about Hurley and his mother leaving a dangerous and corrupt Russia to find freedom in America.
Totally Unofficial Queer Guide to Mr. International Leather 2017
Going to International Mr. Leather 2017? This is the third iteration of a list of unofficial parties and events on International Mr. Leather weekend.
Rising Up: The Art of Protest, Resistance, and Celebration
Last Thursday Gay City Arts premiered a play entitled Rising Up, a work that openly condemns gentrification and displacement in the Central District by sharing the QTPOC experience and the importance of chosen family. The debut work from playwrights Sara Rosenblatt and Ebo Barton, directed by Barton along with Neve Andromeda Mazique-Bianco, depicted an honest and personal representation of the QTPOC experience in Seattle.
Totally Unofficial Queer Guide to Upstream Music Fest 2017
After a year of hype, immense amounts of money spent, and the announcement of an obscenely large lineup, Upstream Music Fest + Summit is finally here. Paul Allen’s bloated brainchild will light up Pioneer Square from Thursday till Saturday with a host of shows, panels, and lectures.
SNL: A Sketch Too Far
I was left with a strange feeling yesterday after watching the replay of last weekend’s Saturday Night Live. Part of it was from the fact that Chris Pine had to sing almost every time we saw him in the episode, which was weird. But it was mostly due to the sketch where a group of tough, masculine auto mechanics all came out to each other as closet RuPaul’s Drag Race fans.
Totally Unofficial Queer Guide to Translations Transgender Film Festival
Frankly, it’s hard to look through the festival schedule without seeing something worth attending or watching. But, for those who can’t commit to attending 10 days worth of films and activities, we’ve put together a Totally Unofficial Guide of our picks.
Where Everybody Knows Your Name: Re-bar
Re-bar occupies a strange and lovely place in Seattle – both spatially and historically. The bar, located in the nebulous Denny Triangle, has provided a safe space for queer nightlife in the city for decades. It’s also where Nirvana staged its record release show for Nevermind (and where the band was famously kicked out of that same night).
Taming of the Tension: A Conversation with Coco Peru
Miss Coco Peru has been there and done that – all in a shoulder-length, red flip hairdo, naturally. Unlike most drag performers, Ms. Peru forewent lip-synching and dancing and instead made a name for herself as a monologist and creator of one-woman shows. A period of successful performances in New York’s cabaret circuit eventually led to stints in film and television.
The Sweet Dichotomy of Cherdonna Shinatra
With a composed, sweet, and measured voice, the woman behind the spastic, exaggerated femme persona known as Cherdonna Shinatra describes her upcoming projects. The tone of the conversation is markedly different compared to the character’s at-times cartoonish physicality, but the woman behind Cherdonna, Seattle’s Jody Kuehner, has no problem with the concept of dichotomy.
It’s Time For Lady Bunny To Grow Up
It must be hard being Lady Bunny, always being surrounded by people who don’t get that her brand of shock value humor isn’t meant to offend. Constantly having to explain that it’s her audience’s job to not be offended by her jokes, rather than her job as a performer to edit what she says out of decency and human kindness, must be tiring.
Let the Stars Guide You to Deep Space Lez
Not far from here in either time or space, there flies the Octavia Butler, a small spaceship crewed by three enterprising lesbians in search of something bigger than themselves. They live and work communally, down to the collective Diva cup boiling pot and regular slam poetry presentation.
Breaking Taboos with Chocolate Drizzle
Keon Volt Price is not afraid of sex – not afraid to talk about it, to dance sexually in public or even to laugh about it. “Sex is in every culture,” says the Seattle-based 29-year-old dancer and burlesque performer. “No matter how you feel about it, it’s in every culture.”
Waxie Moon: A Shining Light of Boylesque
For Seattle’s Marc Kenison – known also by his stage name, Waxie Moon – boylesque is still shaping and defining itself as an art form. Kenison, a prolific performer who identifies as a boylesque dancer first and foremost, says the style was born from early 20th century burlesque shows.