SAN FRANCISCO– The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot

SAN FRANCISCO– The Tenderloin Museum is proud to announce the premier of The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, an original, interactive theater piece directly inspired by the historic riots that launched transgender activism in San Francisco. The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot is an integral piece of the Tenderloin’s identity, and this play offers a singular opportunity for audiences to celebrate the individuals whose tenacious spirit spawned a movement against the long history of discrimination and violence. Attendees will convene for a late night breakfast at the New Village Cafe (a surrogate for the long-gone Compton’s on Turk and Taylor), where a 12 person cast will recreate the neighborhood’s seminal act of resistance and immerse the audience in the tribulations of a marginalized community striving for survival and recognition. In the summer of 1966, a drag queen patron of the Tenderloin’s Compton’s Cafeteria threw her cup of hot coffee in the face of an police officer as he made an unwarranted attempted to arrest her. The riot that followed would come to be known as the United States’ first recorded act of militant queer resistance to social oppression and police harassment. Three years before the famous gay riot at New York’s Stonewall Inn, the neighborhood’s drag queens and allies banded together to fight back against their ongoing discrimination, beating the cops with their high heels and throwing furniture through the cafeteria windows. A reflection of the solidarity displayed at Compton’s, The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot is a highly collaborative production. The play was conceived and developed by Bay Area playwright Mark Nassar and Tenderloin Museum director Katie Conry. Nassar wrote the script with legendary neighborhood drag queens Donna Personna and Collette LeGrande, whose first-hand accounts of Compton’s inform the dialogue and direction. Throughout 2017, the play was workshopped extensively at the Tenderloin Museum to incorporate community feedback, and the final result is a groundbreaking hybrid of theater and living history. While the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot has immense significance for the TLGB community at large, it was a defining moment for the Tenderloin. As such, Compton’s figures prominently in the Tenderloin Museum’s permanent exhibition. The history on display inspired Nassar and Conry to translate this pivotal moment to the stage, and the multi-year project that ensued proved a unique connection between the museum and its community. Special thanks is due to Susan Stryker and Victor Silverman, whose diligently researched, Emmy Award winning documentary Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria saved Compton’s from historical obscurity. Their special programming at the Tenderloin Museum was instrumental in building local awareness. Additionally, this production was made possible by generous grants from the California Humanities for All, the Zellerbach Family Foundation, the Horizons Foundation, and the Neighborhoods Arts Collaborative/ Grants for the Arts. The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot opens on February 22nd, and performances will run Thursday through Saturday for four weeks. Audience members are encouraged to dress in 60s era clothing. Admission includes a meal (breakfast for dinner), but seating each night is limited, so reserve a ticket today! * The dialogue and subject matter of the play strives for historical realism, even when that reality is objectionable by today’s standards. The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot is a project supported by California Humanities through an Humanities for All Quick Grant.    Bios: Mark Nassar boasts a successful career writing plays and screenplays and acting in theater, TV and film. Mr. Nassar is the co-creator of Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding, the longest running Off-Broadway comedy in New York City history. More recently, he wrote the screenplay for A Line in the Sand, a film directed by Jeffrey Chernov, in which he also played a principal role. In 2008, the film won Best Feature and the Audience Award at numerous film festivals, as well as the Grand Jury prize at the Canada International Film Festival. He also has attended the Djerassi Artists Residency in Woodside, California, where he completed a new play, Shouting in the Wilderness, and is currently playing Sal the owner in San Francisco’s immersive hit, The Speakeasy. Collette LeGrande is the twice former Grand Duchess of the Ducal Court of San Francisco. She has raised funds for charity in the Tenderloin for 30 years, supporting AIDS Emergency Fund, Magnet, Mama Reinhardt’s Toys for Tots, and many others. She has worked at Aunt Charlie’s since 1998 and organizes her own bi-weekly drag show, the Dream Queens Revue. Donna Personna is an artist and performer, who first hit the stage with the legendary Cockettes. She was the subject of the 2013 Iris Prize-winning short “My Mother,” by Jay Bedwani. She serves on the board of directors committees for Trans March and the Transgender Day of Remembrance, working to gain wider visibility for transgender rights.