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The Overtime Theatre hosted its 5th annual "Queer Cabaret" for its 20th anniversary during Pride Month. It's a two-night event filled with dancing, singing, improv, and poetry.
Stage manager Channing Winchell has participated in the show in past years, but this is the first year they’ve stage managed it.
“It's kind of a new role, but it's really helped me in kind of just taking control of my life, my artistic vision, interpreting other people's artistic vision and trying to figure out how to how to motivate people, how to communicate with people in a way that makes people feel happy to be there, excited to perform. I always want people to walk away feeling gratified and not stressed out,” said Winchell.
Actor and producer, Lyn Thomas, performs as Friday the Clown.
Thomas says the concept for "Queer Cabaret" came from needing a place to express themselves authentically, especially during the pandemic.
“I didn't know where I could be myself. I didn't know where I could be Friday, and during the quarantine, there were a lot of queer-friendly comedy theaters that shut down, and I just didn't really feel like I had a place where I could show off what I wanted to show off and be in control of that,” said Thomas.
Performer Frankie Benavides performed “Queered Science,” where he educated the audience about dry ice. He said "Queer Cabaret" is a positive validation of his identity.
“It's very affirming. I'm from a generation where it was instinctual to stay in the closet, where it didn't need to be told to me to hide myself and shrink myself,” said Benavides. “So now that I can do 'Queer Cabaret' with my friends during Pride Month in such an open manner, it is like removing a backpack full of rocks, compared to the way I grew up, so it's a wonderful thing to me.”
Benavides added that his own participation is an act of rebellion.
“I'm not exactly a rebellious person, and I feel emboldened by my friends, who are a lot more brave than I am. Like I said earlier, I grew up in a time when I shrank and stayed in the closet,” said Benavides. “This is rebelling against that instinct for me. This is me putting myself out there and doing something that was very hard for me to do for most of my life, and so I think rebelling against my own internalized homophobia, my own fear, and my own shame.”
Overtime attendee Ava Martinez, who’s a community organizer, says events like this one lift the LGBTQ community at a time when support seems to be diminishing.
“We're seeing a lot of reactionary forces against trans people, trans kids, and so it's almost twice as important to express ourselves in an authentic way that's not tied to, being a politician or being a queer corporation,” said Martinez. “It's about that grassroots expression of yourself without having to be tied to profit or tied to electoralism. And so it's so important for these events, too, because it's not like being sponsored by Goldman Sachs or Boeing. It's something that's done by the people for the people.”
The next "Queer Cabaret" at the Overtime Theater will take place in October.
