Queer as Faust Festival
From Faust
First-Ever “Queer as Faust” Festival to Kick-off Gay Pride Month
| Queer as Faust Festival events 2008 |
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Tallahassee—Let’s face it: there is no entity in the Big Bend that can be nearly as queer as a cabaret comedy troupe of adults in balloon ears led by a deaf performer dressed as a giant cigar-chomping rat!
Welcome to the Mickee Faust Club’s first-ever “Queer as Faust” cabaret and festival in Tallahassee. The company’s live shows at their Clubhouse in Railroad Square, 623 McDonnell Drive, are the opening act for a month of rainbow-flag wavin’ gay pride in the capital city.
“We’re excited to be adding our own typically skewed perspective into the community’s public celebration of diversity this June,” says Jimmers Micallef, co-producer of the festival. “Tallahassee includes people from every hue in the rainbow spectrum. So does Faustlandia! We also enjoy poking fun at each of them, and ourselves, in the process.”
The Faust troupe, led by performer Terry Galloway and her partner Donna Marie Nudd, have an hour-long “Queer As Faust” cabaret featuring LGBT-themed skits, songs and videos. There are some audience favorites from years past such as the Gay Caballero and Pi Iota Gamma as well as some new original pieces and some of the troupe’s own Coming Out stories. The show opens on Friday, May 30 and runs May 31st and June 6-7th. Faust takes a break to join with others in the community for Tallahassee’s official Gay Pride Week June 8-15th.
The Faustkateers return to the stage for “An Evening with Faust and Elizabeth Whitney” at the Clubhouse on Friday, June 20th. Whitney is a Boston-based performer and a Lincoln High School graduate, and makes her return to her hometown to participate in the “Queer As Faust” festival. The Friday night performance showcases Whitney’s gender political humor with Barbie and Bitches with Barrettes. Faust will add videos and some quick bits to round out the cabaret evening. Whitney performs her own solo show, “A Day Without Sunshine” on Saturday, June 21st. “Sunshine” takes a satirical swipe at 1970s beauty queen, citrus spokeswoman and Save Our Children guru, Anita Bryant.
Finally, the cabaret company is bringing two feature-length films to town. On Friday, June 27th, they’ll be showing “Brother to Brother”, a narrative film in which a college-aged African-American man discovers the gay and lesbian subculture of the Harlem Renaissance. The month wraps up on Saturday, June 28th, with the award-winning “For the Bible Tells Me So”, a documentary in which five “average American” families---including those of former House Majority leader Dick Gephardt and Episcopal bishop Gene Robinson— must reconcile their Christian faith with the knowledge that a family member is gay or lesbian. Fairness for All Families will be accepting donations at this event.
For more information, please call (850) 562-RATS (7287) and visit the website mickeefaust.com.
