Evento

Fierce, Fabulous and Fully Coiffed

Drag queens! Rants! Jazz! Tragedy! Comedy! Confetti! Double entendres! More wigs and sequins than you'd ever thought could be gathered into one place!

Join us for a fantabulous romp celebrating the undeniable gloriousness of the multifaceted contributions that the LGBTQ+ community has made to world culture since the dawn of entertainment!

Co-produced by the composer-performer trio of Jennifer Wright, Nicholas Yandell, and Timothy Arliss O'Brien in partnership with Cascadia Composers, Fierce combines new music and drag in a glorious extravaganza for all to take pride in!

Fierce features a glittering group of local drag icons, classical musicians, and performance artists in a show bubbling over with fabulousness and fresh interpretations of queer art forms in all their diversity and glory. Exploring themes of gender and identity in a variety of styles, this rainbow-drenched explosion of expression celebrates the local and global LGBTQ+ community in style.

And its super fun for straights too! Fans of art music, drag, dance, song, comedy, fashion, spectacle, pixelated 80s videos, witty storytelling, and audience participation will all find lots to love. LGBTQ+ listeners can enjoy a safe and joyful space to enjoy the arts and take pride in their cultural heritage. Suitable for audiences ages 13 and older. Proof of vaccination/negative Covid test and masks required.

What's on the roster:

Local drag pianist/icon Saint Syndrome (a.k.a Marshall Cuffe) is featured on several pieces, including their luscious, lounge-y original "What Makes a Man a Man?"

Bonnie Miksch's soulful "Misguided" for unaccompanied voice and live-controlled electronics is, in the composers words, a call to "live our lives authentically, and refuse to be willing participants of racist, classist, ableist, sexist, and heterosexist systems or rhetoric."

Recognizing that anyone can be a woman these days, Jennifer Wright (appearing as drag personality Tartie FaLouze) has a few choice words to share with anyone thinking of giving it a go in her bluesy "Rant."

The tongue-in-cheek "A Musical Lecture" by Nicholas Yandell (appearing as drag personality The Midnight Maestro) uses everything from a theramin to a keytar to demonstrate how music can help you find yourself!

Linda Woody's setting of Filipino-American queer artist Regie Cabico's poem "A Queerification" features the multitalented Zeloszelos Marchandt singing while suspended in midair, a position well-suited to considering thorny topics at the intersection of gender and identity.

Guest composer Lucas Marshall Smith from Ohio contributes "Always Meeting Ourselves", which presents a deliciously ambiguous original text that can lean in any number of ways while performers consider their reflections in a multitude of mirrors.

Timothy Arliss OBrien, appearing as drag personality Tabitha Acidz, tackles some heavy stuff head-on with solo guitar and spoken (and sometimes shouted) word in "Tabitha's Poetry Slam."

The grand finale is Jennifer Wright's hilarious memoir of her cringe-worthy youthful attempts to form a coherent identity growing up in the 1980s while surrounded by a barrage of confusing and colorful pop culture influences, entitled "(Do Ya Like My) Unicorn Trapper Keeper (Extra-Extra Extended Dance Remix)." There will be line dancing, multiple keytars, retro pixelated video and, of course, Trapper Keepers galore!

All together, "Fierce" is a night you wont soon forget!

Tickets: $20 general admission; $10 students, $5 off for anyone wearing a costume!

Generously supported in part by an "Arts Build Communities" grant from the Oregon Arts Commission.