Beasts, Tears, and Lesbian Weddings

Comments (0) By S. Pajot Thursday, Jul 1 2010

Sequins? Jazz hands? Bawdy show tunes? Nope. The inaugural Out in the Tropics performing arts festival is all about the kind of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender theater that steps beyond stereotypes.

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Wednesday at 7 p.m., the fest begins with “Queer Culture, Global Culture,” a panel discussion at the Shore Club Hotel (1901 Collins Ave., Miami Beach) featuring festival director Robert Rosenberg, Teatro El Público founder Carlos Diaz, actress and writer Sara Felder, and performance artist Taylor Mac. The talk is free.

Next, on Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m., Diaz and his Cuban theater troupe, Teatro El Público, will perform German New Waver Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s tale of a doomed lesbian love triangle, The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant. The gimmick: All the original female parts are now played by dudes. The play will be performed en español, but Anglophones can expect subtitles.

Then Saturday at 8 p.m., The Be(a)st of Taylor Mac brings the eponymous actor and his R-rated antics, gender politics, crazy cabaret, and outrageous masquerade to the stage. And finally, the fest wraps Sunday at 7 p.m. with Sarah Felder’s June Bride, a vaguely vaudevillian one-woman act about lesbian weddings, juggling, knife-throwing, straitjackets, and other circus tricks. All performances will take place at the Colony Theatre (1040 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach). Tickets cost $20 to $35. Call 305-316-6165, or visit fundarte.us.
Wed., July 7, 7 p.m., 2010