At the Brava Theater this weekend, Friday and Saturday only, is a unique piece of collaborative performance being done by some notable names in SF's drag and nightlife communities. It's titled Work MORE! 7: Daughters of a Riot, and through lip-synch, song, video, and audience participation it tells the stories of LGBT revolution and liberation, including San Francisco's own precursor to the Stonewall Riot, the Compton's Cafeteria Riot in 1966. As described by co-producer VivvyAnne ForeverMORE! (Mica Sigourney), it touches on "Moments when drag, gender variance and blatant out-queerness have exploded into riots of resistance."

SFist spoke with Ms. ForeverMORE! about the project, which is the seventh in her 'Work MORE!' series.

SFist: What is Work MORE! for those who don't know?

VivvyAnne ForeverMORE: Work MORE is a platform for collaborative art-making that utilizes drag to disturb traditional notions of beauty, femininity, and masculinity while promoting interdisciplinary collaborations among artists who co-create rather than compete. And it builds on San Francisco’s long history of drag as a community-building strategy, celebrating the diversity within the form.

Tells us about the new piece. How many people are involved?

We have nine performers and one videographer. There was a core group of four queens who conceived of and wrote most of the show, but the staging and the execution has been bigger and broader.

And there's always audience participation in your pieces?

There is slight audience participation, a moment of interaction when the fourth wall is broken, though there really never is a fourth wall. It's a lot of direct address.

Why do you think the Compton's Cafeteria Riot story hasn't gotten its due like other events in recent queer history?

Compton's was overshadowed by Stonewall because Stonewall turned into Pride, so we celebrate its anniversary every year and with that comes the retelling. To this day there are plenty of moments of violence against queers, and moments of revolt that go under-reported. Obviously this is mostly violence against queer and trans women of color. Also queer history is tricky, for a long time it wasn't history. You know? It was not codified or accepted. So much of it just doesn't exist. A briefer answer would be, "I am completely unsurprised that New York's riot was more recognized, but I bet ours was more fun."

How would you say your theater work, like this piece, fits with and/or complements your work as a nightlife host and performer?

My theater and performance works are very informed by my experiences in the nightlife. I love the nightlife, and if it wasn't for drag I wouldn't be undertaking these bigger projects. Much of my theater works have nightlife aesthetics: direct address, spectacle, drag, etc. Though I think calling Work MORE! a theater work is a bit misleading. I prefer to think of it as an experiment in drag. It's a proposition "what does a drag queen look like on this big huge stage with access to all these lights and video and sound cues?" It's a venue change, a new game.

Daughters of a Riot plays at 8 p.m. on Friday, May 27 and Saturday, May 28 at the Brava Theater. Find tickets here.


Related:
Does Anyone Go Out Anymore?: San Francisco Nightlife In The Age Of Netflix And Chill