Thrillpeddlers Bring ‘Vice Palace’
To New York

Two Opportunities to See This Rare Gem of the Ridiculous Theater Movement in NYC:

The Thrillpeddlers and The HOWL! Festival present
VICE PALACE: The Last Cockettes Musical
A Concert Version of the 1972 Musical Revue Extravaganza
Two nights only! October 21 & 22 2011 – 11pm
at Theater 80, 80 St. Marks Place – New York 212-388-0388
Tickets $15 at the box office or at howlfestival.com

AND

Dr. Queen’s Drag Academy Presents
THE MARTIN WORMAN PAPERS
A Panel Presentation with Select Performances
from The Cockettes Repertoire
With Original VICE PALACE Cast Member Mink Stole
October 17 2011 – 6pm
Bruno Walter Auditorium –
New York Library For The Performing Arts
111 Amsterdam Avenue @ 65th Street, New York

Straight from San Francisco, The Thrillpeddlers present a concert version of their smash hit revival, VICE PALACE: The Last Cockettes Musical on Friday & Saturday, October 21 & 22 as part of the 2011 HOWL! Festival, at Theater 80. Selections from the show can be seen earlier in the week at the New York Library for the Performing Arts on Monday, October 17, as part of The Martin Worman Papers – which takes an in-depth look into the life and career Mr. Worman – actor, playwright, lyricist, director, female impersonator, activist and academic.

Loosely based on Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death”, VICE PALACE was written by Martin Worman & Scrumbly Koldewyn in 1972 as a vehicle for Divine and actress Mink Stole (best known as stars of cult-director John Waters’ films), and The Cockettes. VICE PALACE follows Divina, (Leigh Crow), an eccentric and wealthy woman who spares no expense to keep her jet-set party guests entertained, while the villagers just beyond the walls of her lavish estate are ravaged by the plague. Each performance must top the next in this bizarre race to escape the one uninvited party guest – death!

Originally produced as a “Nocturnal Dream Show” and performed at midnight at the old Palace Theatre in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco on Halloween weekend of 1972, VICE PALACE was the fabled and fabulous Cockettes’ final stage presentation.

The HOWL! Festival is a month-long performance series which will take place throughout the month of October (2011) to benefit the HOWL Emergency Life Project (H.E.L.P).  Administered by the Actors Fund, H.E.L.P is an emergency services and health fund available to East Village and downtown artists in need of assistance. HOWL! Arts Project is sponsored by Actors Fund (administrators of H.E.L.P) and presents poetry, theater, film, dance, music and performance art programs.
 
HOWL! Arts channels the spirit and artistic invention of the namesake poem and poet Allen Ginsberg to deliver firsthand examples of the creative, cultural, and historical forces that have made the highly original downtown arts of the EV/LES community world-renowned