Out There :: A Column Named Desire

Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 3 MIN.

Erotic desires, aspiring dancers, ambitious theatre plans, and lip-syncing drag queens - it's quite a full house in the old Out There column this week!

First up, the Center for Sex and Culture is presenting the group exhibition "Dark Desires: The Erotic Lives of Black Women" through Nov. 15, with an opening reception on Fri., Oct. 10, from 7-10 p.m. Gallery director Dorian Katz says the theme of the show is, "What is the role of desire in the lives of black women -- cis, trans, and woman-identified? 'Dark Desires' answers this question by exploring the history of the black erotic, broadly speaking, with a particular interest in black female-identified sexual subjectivities. 'Dark Desires' features a selection of material from the Center's library and archive.

"On Sat., Oct. 11, from 7-9 p.m., we will screen 'A Good Day to Be Black & Sexy,' which we will follow with a Q&A of director, writer, producer Dennis Dortch and co-producer and Dark Desires artist Numa Perrier." The show and screening take place at the Center for Sex and Culture, 1349 Mission St., SF. More info is at sexandculture.org/gallery.

Stars of the Future

It's that time of year when the San Francisco Ballet School announces the deserving recipients of the Bob Ross (B.A.R. co-founder) Scholarship, the Keith White (B.A.R. dance writer) Memorial Scholarship, and the Eric Hellman (B.A.R. arts writer) Memorial Scholarship for the 2014-15 school year.

The Bob Ross Scholarship was awarded to 18-year-old Nathaniel Remez, from Washington, DC, who attended the SFBS 2013 and 2014 summer programs and 2014-15 school year. The Keith White Memorial Scholarship was given to 16-year-old Kamryn Baldwin , from Indianapolis, who attended the 2013 summer program and 2013-14 school year. And the recipient of the Eric Hellman Memorial Scholarship is 16-year-old Sarah Drake, who attended the 2013 and 2014 summer programs and 2014-15 school year. Congratulation, young dancers!

Meanwhile, A.C.T. gave journalists a hard-hat tour of their renovation of the Strand Theater on mid-Market St. last week, and Out There was in the house. The former grindhouse will make a spectacular showcase for the theater when it opens at the start of their 2014-15 season, with genius playwright Caryl Churchill's Love and Information, a play about our apparently boundless appetite for data - pretty appropriate for Twitterville, no?

The new Strand will keep the 95-year-old building's historic facade and the feel of its architectural fabric, but add a double-story lobby with a glass wall overlooking Market, a gigantic LED screen that will function as a "community billboard," and beautiful facilities. The neon letters from the old marquee will spell out STRAND on an interior wall. Watch for more to come on this game-changing project in these pages.

Queens for A Day

Tranimation Studios stages so-called "Dragsical" productions, stage plays that pay homage to different film genres. A cast of drag celebrities performs fully lip-synced productions of titles such as "The Next Element," "Batman is Dead," "Freeway" and "Heathers." This season's Dragsical, "Swan Queen," explores the perils of perfection in a tribute to all things dance. The fourth Thursday-night performance at the Supperclub in San Francisco happens tonight (Oct. 9). Drag queens will appear on pointe and up in the air: Scary!

The cast includes Joshua Thake (Chastitiy Belle) of Les Ballet Trockadero de Monte Carlo, as the Swan Queen; Suppositori Spelling as the Black Swan; Trixxie Carr as the Dying Swan; Raya Light as the Queen; Rahni NothingMore as Veronica; Glamamore as the Mistress; Nic Candito as the Gentleman; Travis Rowland (Qween ) as Fantasia; and Joseph Copley as the Prince. The playwright-producer-director is Jason Hannan, and costume design/artistic consultant is Mr. David. For tix, go to swanqueen.eventbrite.com


by Kilian Melloy , EDGE Staff Reporter

Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.

Copyright Bay Area Reporter. For more articles from San Francisco's largest GLBT newspaper, visit www.ebar.com

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