Somerset Community College Fine Arts 4th Annual Short Play Festival
It may be early, but we’re already looking forward to next year’s Annual Short Play Festival, this time with a gruesome twist! Playwright submissions are now OPEN for the “4th Annual Short Play Festival: The Show to Die For! Whether you’re in Louisville or Los Angeles (or elsewhere) if you’ve got a killer short play, we want to see it.
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Brown Skinned Girls seeks submissions - Beginners, dabblers, scribblers and seasoned writers alike, from all countries, are welcome to submit their plays. There is no entry fee for this opportunity, and given the size of the undertaking, there will be no monetary compensation offered. However, one play, picked by the audience over the two evenings will be presented with the Public’s Award and receive a modest stipend.
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Mini Plays Review is seeking bold, inventive, and emotionally resonant one-minute plays and monologues for our September 2025 issue themed “Fleeting Connections.” We are looking for one-minute plays and monologues that capture the brief yet powerful moments of human interaction—those sparks of connection that may be gone in an instant but leave a lasting impression.
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site at https://www.nycplaywrights.org ***
*** FIGHTING DRAG QUEENS ~ HAPPY PRIDE MONTH ***
President Donald Trump may not want drag artists on stage at the Kennedy Center, but he couldn’t stop them from booing him in the audience.
As the president attended a performance of Les Misérables at the Washington D.C. venue Wednesday night, drag artists Tara Hoot, Ricky Rosé, Vagenesis, and Mari Con Carne also attended the show donned in formal regalia — and full drag.
“Knowing [Trump] would be there made my attendance more crucial," Carne told The Advocate. "As a drag queen, I wanted it to be known that you can prevent us from performing on your stages, but you can’t erase us from your presence. As an immigrant, I wanted it to be known that we aren’t going anywhere and we will face you head on with every ounce of courage that we have.”
The four mingled in a crowd filled with conservative legislators like Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan and several members of the Trump Administration, including Vice President JD Vance and Attorney General Pam Bondi, who Trump appointed to the board of the Kennedy Center in 2020. First Lady Melania Trump, Second Lady Usha Vance, Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr., adviser Corey Lewandowski, and MAGA pundit Laura Loomer were also in attendance.
When the group entered the theater, the crowd greeted them with cheers and applause — a much warmer reception than that given to Trump and Vance, who were loudly booed once their presence was known.
More...
https://www.advocate.com/exclusives/drag-queens-trump-kennedy-center#rebelltitem2
***
Drag: The Musical follows two drag queens who operate rival nightclubs across the street. When both their clubs end up in jeopardy of closing, they have to fight wig, tooth, and nail for survival.
"Drag: The Musical has everything that a musical could want: big numbers, big wigs, loveable characters, and a lot of heart," our critic raved.
"From the moment we opened our doors at New World Stages, Drag: The Musical has been a celebration of community, self-expression, and unapologetic joy," the producers of the show said in a joint statement. "The love and enthusiasm from audiences, critics, and the incredible talent on and off stage have made this journey unforgettable. While our time in New York is coming to a close, this is just the beginning for Drag. The wigs have been fluffed, the heels have been raised, and the world is ready for more! Stay tuned — because honey, we’re not done yet."
More...
https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatre-news/news/drag-the-musical-to-close-off-broadway
***
Given President Trump’s executive orders that strip protections for the transgender community, it might be tempting to see EgoPo Classic Theatre Company’s production of Mae West’s campy classic, “The Drag,” as yet another political statement, excruciatingly and painfully relevant.
“At this point, any queer art and any trans art is an act of resistance,” said Rebecca Wright, the play’s director.
Even so, “the play is a pretty funny raucous good time,” Wright said.
“Mae West put some really dark scenes in it and certainly we did our utmost not to shy away from those,” she said. But the play concludes with a big party scene, and it has a “fun and joyful, celebrate-y vibe and we’re making a claim on it.”
“We’re making a commitment to celebration despite the world we are in,” Wright said, “and that comes through in the play – like defiant celebration.”
More...
https://billypenn.com/2025/01/26/mae-west-the-drag-egopo-classic-theatre-preview/
***
Donna Personna does not want to be tolerated.
“I am to be loved, adored and respected,” the 72-year-old San Francisco woman declared on a recent morning, seated inside her fifth-story apartment. Personna is preparing to serve as grand marshal at the city’s Pride festival this year and has no patience for anyone’s tolerance: “Fuck that shit … Give me my rights.”
Her Pride mantra – “It ain’t a party. It’s time to act up” – honors the transgender women who, more than 50 years ago, showed her how to live and fight back.
In 1966, three years before the world-famous Stonewall riot in New York, a group of trans women in San Francisco stood up to police inside Gene Compton’s Cafeteria, an all-night restaurant in the Tenderloin neighborhood and popular queer gathering spot. A trans woman fed up with the harassment and abuse is said to have thrown a cup of coffee in an officer’s face, sparking a chaotic riot and unprecedented moment of trans resistance to police violence.
“These ladies took the bullets for us,” said Personna, a performer and activist who went to Compton’s Cafeteria as a teenager in the 1960s and now lives down the street. “Everyone in our community stands on their shoulders.”
More...
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jun/21/stonewall-san-francisco-riot-tenderloin-neighborhood-trans-women
***
With the recent mourning of several drag performers (like local queen DUSH, and nationally beloved Jiggly Caliente and The Vivienne) and the attacks on drag in more conservative areas across the world, it’s no surprise that At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen hits hard.
That’s not to say it’s all a cry-fest; far from it. There are certainly just as many laughs as tears. In fact, while the ending is definitely gut-wrenching, the Story Theatre production is a celebration of drag, Blackness, and queerness more than anything else.
From the beginning, you know Courtney Berringers/Anthony Knighton (Terry Guest, who also wrote the play) is going to die. Obviously it’s in the title, but it’s also stated right off the bat by Courtney. The script doesn’t hide what Courtney dies of either (as someone who is exhausted by HIV/AIDS being used for shock value, I appreciated). The tearjerker twist of At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen isn’t “Oh my God, she was dying of AIDS the whole time!” but rather, it’s knowing she will die, not liking her very much at first, falling in love with her complexity and potential, then watching that light get snuffed out young by an illness historically rife with inequity. At a time when federal funding for HIV and AIDS research and resources are being cut, it’s clear that while the play takes place in 2004 (and was first produced by Story Theatre in 2019), it’s just as relevant today.
More...
https://chicagoreader.com/performing-arts/theater/theater-review/at-the-wake-of-a-dead-drag-queen-story-theatre/
***
What was supposed to be a joyful night of queer celebration turned into a moment of surreal disruption on May 2 when P Town Bar, a beloved LGBTQ establishment in Pittsburgh, was “raided” by approximately 20 Pennsylvania State Police officers and undercover agents during a drag event hosted by local drag icon Indica and featuring legendary guest Amanda Lepore.
The event, Another Party Pittsburgh, had just hit its stride when the police entered around 11:30 p.m., mid-performance, as drag artist Blade Matthews took the stage. And not just with any number: Blade was in the middle of a theatrical rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody. With the room captivated and the song in full swing, law enforcement had to stand back and wait.
“Blade literally chose the longest song ever and made the cops wait,” said one attendee. “It was iconic.”
Once the performance wrapped, officers instructed patrons and performers to exit the venue. According to attendees, the police offered little explanation beyond calling it a “compliance check,” but the scale and timing of the action left many shaken and deeply skeptical.
“It was an LCB raid taken to the extreme,” Indica told QBurgh. “We waited 30 minutes outside for them to inspect every crevice.” The officers in witness videos appear to be from the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement, not the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.
In true drag fashion, Indica pivoted to performance-as-resistance. With the crowd displaced and the venue swarmed with law enforcement, she took to the street for an a cappella rendition of “Pink Pony Club.” The crowd joined in, turning the sidewalk into a spontaneous moment of queer solidarity.
More...
https://epgn.com/2025/05/05/p-town-bar-raided-during-queer-event-featuring-amanda-lepore/
***
Under the leadership of chief William H. Parker, who took over in 1950, LAPD arrests for homosexuality increased by more than 85%. A routine form of harrassment included demanding to see the identifications of patrons in known and rumored LGBTQ hangouts. If their outward presentation didn't match the gender on their ID, they would be arrested under the pretense of "sex perversion." Such a form of harrassment occured at Cooper Do-nuts one night in May 1959 — according to author John Rechy, who was present in the café that night and provides one of the only original accounts of the incident in his 1963 novel City of Night, two cops entered Cooper Do-nuts and singled out five individuals. Rechy describes this form of arrest: "They interrogate you, fingerprint you without booking you: an illegal L.A. cop-tactic to scare you from hanging around."
The five patrons — two drag queens, two male sex workers, and one gay man — were led outside to be arrested following the ID checks, and when the officers attempted to shove all five into the same police car, one of the men began to protest being crammed into the packed car. His protest spurred the crowd of onlooking fellow patrons into action, and together a group of lesbians, transgender women, drag queens, and gay men rushed into the streets and began to pelt the officers with donuts, paper plates, coffee cups, and anything else they could get their hands on. The cops fled to call for reinforcements without making the arrests, and the LGBTQ crowd present celebrated the victory and vented their frustrations at yet another intrusion upon their rights. As Rechy puts it, "...the street was bustling with disobedience. Gay people danced about the cars."
More...
https://one.usc.edu/story/cooper-do-nuts
--Donna Personna does not want to be tolerated.
“I am to be loved, adored and respected,” the 72-year-old San Francisco woman declared on a recent morning, seated inside her fifth-story apartment. Personna is preparing to serve as grand marshal at the city’s Pride festival this year and has no patience for anyone’s tolerance: “Fuck that shit … Give me my rights.”
Her Pride mantra – “It ain’t a party. It’s time to act up” – honors the transgender women who, more than 50 years ago, showed her how to live and fight back.
In 1966, three years before the world-famous Stonewall riot in New York, a group of trans women in San Francisco stood up to police inside Gene Compton’s Cafeteria, an all-night restaurant in the Tenderloin neighborhood and popular queer gathering spot. A trans woman fed up with the harassment and abuse is said to have thrown a cup of coffee in an officer’s face, sparking a chaotic riot and unprecedented moment of trans resistance to police violence.
“These ladies took the bullets for us,” said Personna, a performer and activist who went to Compton’s Cafeteria as a teenager in the 1960s and now lives down the street. “Everyone in our community stands on their shoulders.”
More...
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jun/21/stonewall-san-francisco-riot-tenderloin-neighborhood-trans-women
***
With the recent mourning of several drag performers (like local queen DUSH, and nationally beloved Jiggly Caliente and The Vivienne) and the attacks on drag in more conservative areas across the world, it’s no surprise that At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen hits hard.
That’s not to say it’s all a cry-fest; far from it. There are certainly just as many laughs as tears. In fact, while the ending is definitely gut-wrenching, the Story Theatre production is a celebration of drag, Blackness, and queerness more than anything else.
From the beginning, you know Courtney Berringers/Anthony Knighton (Terry Guest, who also wrote the play) is going to die. Obviously it’s in the title, but it’s also stated right off the bat by Courtney. The script doesn’t hide what Courtney dies of either (as someone who is exhausted by HIV/AIDS being used for shock value, I appreciated). The tearjerker twist of At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen isn’t “Oh my God, she was dying of AIDS the whole time!” but rather, it’s knowing she will die, not liking her very much at first, falling in love with her complexity and potential, then watching that light get snuffed out young by an illness historically rife with inequity. At a time when federal funding for HIV and AIDS research and resources are being cut, it’s clear that while the play takes place in 2004 (and was first produced by Story Theatre in 2019), it’s just as relevant today.
More...
https://chicagoreader.com/performing-arts/theater/theater-review/at-the-wake-of-a-dead-drag-queen-story-theatre/
***
What was supposed to be a joyful night of queer celebration turned into a moment of surreal disruption on May 2 when P Town Bar, a beloved LGBTQ establishment in Pittsburgh, was “raided” by approximately 20 Pennsylvania State Police officers and undercover agents during a drag event hosted by local drag icon Indica and featuring legendary guest Amanda Lepore.
The event, Another Party Pittsburgh, had just hit its stride when the police entered around 11:30 p.m., mid-performance, as drag artist Blade Matthews took the stage. And not just with any number: Blade was in the middle of a theatrical rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody. With the room captivated and the song in full swing, law enforcement had to stand back and wait.
“Blade literally chose the longest song ever and made the cops wait,” said one attendee. “It was iconic.”
Once the performance wrapped, officers instructed patrons and performers to exit the venue. According to attendees, the police offered little explanation beyond calling it a “compliance check,” but the scale and timing of the action left many shaken and deeply skeptical.
“It was an LCB raid taken to the extreme,” Indica told QBurgh. “We waited 30 minutes outside for them to inspect every crevice.” The officers in witness videos appear to be from the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement, not the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.
In true drag fashion, Indica pivoted to performance-as-resistance. With the crowd displaced and the venue swarmed with law enforcement, she took to the street for an a cappella rendition of “Pink Pony Club.” The crowd joined in, turning the sidewalk into a spontaneous moment of queer solidarity.
More...
https://epgn.com/2025/05/05/p-town-bar-raided-during-queer-event-featuring-amanda-lepore/
***
Under the leadership of chief William H. Parker, who took over in 1950, LAPD arrests for homosexuality increased by more than 85%. A routine form of harrassment included demanding to see the identifications of patrons in known and rumored LGBTQ hangouts. If their outward presentation didn't match the gender on their ID, they would be arrested under the pretense of "sex perversion." Such a form of harrassment occured at Cooper Do-nuts one night in May 1959 — according to author John Rechy, who was present in the café that night and provides one of the only original accounts of the incident in his 1963 novel City of Night, two cops entered Cooper Do-nuts and singled out five individuals. Rechy describes this form of arrest: "They interrogate you, fingerprint you without booking you: an illegal L.A. cop-tactic to scare you from hanging around."
The five patrons — two drag queens, two male sex workers, and one gay man — were led outside to be arrested following the ID checks, and when the officers attempted to shove all five into the same police car, one of the men began to protest being crammed into the packed car. His protest spurred the crowd of onlooking fellow patrons into action, and together a group of lesbians, transgender women, drag queens, and gay men rushed into the streets and began to pelt the officers with donuts, paper plates, coffee cups, and anything else they could get their hands on. The cops fled to call for reinforcements without making the arrests, and the LGBTQ crowd present celebrated the victory and vented their frustrations at yet another intrusion upon their rights. As Rechy puts it, "...the street was bustling with disobedience. Gay people danced about the cars."
More...
https://one.usc.edu/story/cooper-do-nuts
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