Theodora, She-Bitch of Byzantium

Thrillpeddlers are working with award-winning playwright Charles Busch (Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, Tale of the Allergist’s Wife) to serve up the sublime and ridiculous in the company’s first annual Theatre of the Ridiculous Revival with an all-new production of Busch’s unpublished revision of this 80s Theatre in Limbo hit inspired by the Divine Sarah Bernhardt’s warhorse tragedy, Theodora. Followed by “The Blue Hour”, Hypnodrome’s afterglow floorshow featuring performances by singer/songwriter Jill Tracy in July and Charles Ludlam’s Jack and the Beanstalk in August. Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM through August 16.

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Internationally recognized purveyors of classic Grand Guignol terror plays and sex farces, Thrillpeddlers foray into the equally notorious theatrical niche of The Theatre of the Ridiculous, is a perfect fit. “To the same extent that the Grand Guignol challenges cultural taboos and one’s own fragile safety and sanity,” explained Thrillpeddlers producer Russell Blackwood, “The Ridiculous dares to hold what’s considered sacred up to ridicule and prize things society deems to be worthless and outmoded.”

Defining The Ridiculous may be as elusive as defining “camp” itself. The Ridiculous arts movement began in the mid-sixties and was born out of the queer and psychedelic counterculture(s). Pioneers of The Ridiculous include playwrights Charles Ludlam, Ronald Taval, Harvey Fierstein and Tom Eyen, even Tennessee Williams and Langford Wilson wrote Ridiculous tragi-comedies. Filmmakers John Waters, Jack Smith and Andy Warhol projected it on screen while Alice Cooper, The New York Dolls and Bette Midler revved it up on home stereos and concert stages. In San Francisco, The Cockettes and The Angels of Light were bringing all of the Ridiculous art forms together with lavish drag spectacle on screens, stages and in the streets.

Thrillpeddlers start the Ridiculous Revival’s festivities in New York City when Blackwood and co-producer James Toczyl accompany The Cockettes on their first visit to The Big Apple en mass since their fabled 1971 tour. They’ll attend a week-long series of special events honoring the troupe (along with the donation of a sizeable Cockettes archive to be housed at the Lincoln Center Performing Arts Library). On Wednesday, June 4 at Monkeytown they’ll join Cockettes Fayette Hauser, “Sweet Pam” Tent and Rumi Missabu for performances and presentations that were developed at Thrillpeddlers Hypnodrome and will return to S.F. as part of Missabu’s and Dead Channels’ White-Hot ‘n Warped Wednesdays, the weekly multimedia series of the Ridiculous Revival that opens June 18 with screenings of Sean Abley’s darkly sexual sci-fi/horror film, Socket at 7 and 9:15 pm.

Thrillpeddlers’ dazzling new production of Charles Busch’s Theodora, She-Bitch of Byzantium is quite a jewel in the Ridiculous Revival’s crown. With the gracious guidance of award-winning playwright Charles Busch, the company eagerly mounts an enhanced (and unpublished) version of Theodora, She-Bitch of Byzantium. A “trip” on Sarah Bernhardt’s epic warhorse Theodora and Busch’s follow up to his long-running Off-B’way record holder Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, the play claims more kills per capita than Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus – and does it five times faster! Thrillpeddlers welcome Jef Valentine as Theodora and R.J. Owens as the perverted Emperor Justinian. Also on the bill, new acts for “The Blue Hour”, Hypnodrome’s after-glow floor show. Directed by Russell Blackwood. Playing Friday and Saturday at 8 pm, June 13 – August 16.

Theodora’s glittering and grandiose costumes were designed by Fayette Hauser, an original Cockette who’s first-hand experience in The Ridiculous literally began at the beginning of the movement. Ms. Hauser appeared in Ronald Taval and Andy Warhol’s 1965 film The Life of Juanita Castro. When Taval later brought Juanita Castro and his other one-act play, Shower, to the New York stage, he dubbed the bill “The Theatre of The Ridiculous” and effectively started the genre. Hauser’s memories of costuming Bette Midler for her Las Vegas debut, waiting in the wings with Divine (dressed as a 300 pound crab) and being coaxed as a teenager, alone, to Jack Smith’s New York loft only to find the space filled with a maze of dead Christmas trees (leading Hauser to a silent “mummified” Smith at the maze’s deadend), prove that this lady was a Trillpeddler long before she joined our troupe.

Patrons can opt for added thrills by purchasing private Shock Box seats for two. These themed booths (which include padded cell, pharaoh’s tomb and Heaven and Hell) were just lauded with SF Weekly’s “Best of San Francisco 2008″ as The City’s “Best Bonus Theater Experience”.