Renée’s Queer Cabaret: Special Edition – The Queer National Convention!
**THIS WEEK, OCTOBER 28-NOVEMBER 3, ALL TICKET PROCEEDS GO TO PORTLAND’S OWN BLACK RESILIENCE FUND**
This, our 6th installment of Renée’s Queer Cabaret, is a Special Edition of our resistance variety show that defies the traditional cabaret with rock music and a focus on the intimate humor, joys and vulnerabilities of living as LGBTQIA+. We are creating a mock “Queer National Convention” film to premiere at a YouTube watch party a week before the election (Tuesday, October 27th). While we all agree that voting for Joe Biden is necessary to remove Trump from office, we dream of a time where we can see ourselves represented in the next administration. So why not host our own national convention?
In this short pseudo-mockumentary, Renée Muzquiz is running for President, and co-host, Jason Potter, is running as Vice President. There will be several queer artists with 1-minute comedic/artistic endorsements of our candidacy throughout the show (like in a state roll call), as well as a handful of openly queer-identified community leaders, giving short speeches on important LGBTQIA+ issues.
The premiere on October 27 begins at 7pm PST and will last about an hour. Tickets are Pay-What-You-Can, as always, and you are welcome to purchase one ticket for the household. During the week following the premiere (October 28-November 3), tickets will be Pay-What-You-Can and ALL PROCEEDS will go towards supporting Portland’s own Black Resilience Fund.
Reclaiming the #proudboys hashtag isn’t the only way to queer politics before the election…
QUEER-NOTE SPEAKERS
Cameron Whitten
Kristan Knapp
Tyler TerMeer
ARTISTS
Emily June Newton
Mysteria
Jennifer Lanier
Amy Katrina
Frank SHE-natra
Ara and Teague
Anthony Hudson
Tera Zarra
HOSTS
Renée Muzquiz
Jason Potter
Cameron Whitten (all pronouns) is a community activist, small business owner, and nonprofit executive. At the age of eighteen, Cameron worked themself out of youth homelessness in Portland and has spent the past decade giving back to the very same community that was here when they needed it most. They have a Bachelor’s of Economics from PSU and are an MBA student at Willamette University. Cameron recently served as the Executive Director of Q Center, and are the founder and CEO of racial justice nonprofit Brown Hope. They serve on the board of REACH CDC and Pioneer Courthouse Square.
Kristan Knapp has been a women’s community activist and cultural worker since coming out as a lesbian in 1970. A musician and music producer, she toured nationally with The Izquierda Ensemble and Musica Femina Flute Guitar Duo. Among many nonprofit leadership roles, she held the title of interim director and later Program director for Lesbian Community Project and was Summer Concerts Producer for Portland Parks and Rec for 30 years. She is currently the Alumni Relations Manager for Portland Youth Philharmonic and volunteers as Treasurer for Portland Womxn’s March. Additionally, she consults with GLAPN, the Queer Archive Project of the Pacific Northwest.
Tyler TerMeer (bio coming soon)
Emily June Newton is an international multi-skilled comedic performer specializing in the areas of clown, physical comedy and character creation. Newton creates and performs eccentric characters that live in direct contact and interaction with an audience. Having had many years experience of MC-ing, stand up comedy, cabaret and clown, her work reflects an ongoing interest in exploring the boundaries between performer and audience via comedy.
Mysteria – Jeff Desautels has performed physical comedy and drag in Portland with CoHo Theatre, Box of Clowns, Tears of Joy Theater, Sir Cupcake’s Queer Circus, and Fou Fou Ha. He has also appeared on The Gong Show and America’s Got Talent. He works as a Teaching Artist with Kaiser Permanente’s Educational Theatre Program in collaboration with Oregon Children’s Theatre.
Jennifer Lanier received her classical acting training at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and improvisation training from Paul Sills at his Wisconsin farm. Lanier is currently Co-Artistic Director of Original Practice Shakespeare Festival (OPS Fest). She has worked in regional theatre (American Stage, Profile Theatre, Ruth Foreman Theatre, ) touring theatre (Artist’s Repertory Theatre, Lesbian Thesbians, United Stage), television (Leverage, Hawaii, Grimm), and film (Thin Skin, Scrapper, Last Champion). Lanier lives with her wife, two sons, a costume-loving dachshund, a cantankerous cat, a tornado of a kitten, and an anorexic tortoise.
Amy Katrina Bryan is an actress, director and choreographer and has been a professional drummer since she was 17. She’s thrilled to be a part of Renée’s Cabaret!
Frank SHE-natra – Texas born-and-raised Donna Kay Yarborough has done a bit of everything– actor, improvisor, comedian, singer, songwriter, storyteller, voice actor, bullshit artist. She is thrilled to bring Frank SHEnatra to Renee’s Queer Cabaret. Find more about her DonnaKaySpeaks.com. Her Instagram @DonnaKaySpeaks is full of cute animal pictures.
Frank SHEnatra was born Dec. 15, 1915 in Hoboken, NJ. He died in 1998. Known for being a talented performer and a hell of an asshole, he’s been working to redeem himself in his new form since 2016. He’s trying to figure out the Twitter @FrankSHEnatra
Ara (they/them) and Teague (they/he) are drag artists with a mission to create trans-affirming spaces through performance. As a Jewish-Armenian performer, Ara strives to create content that represents their identities and celebrates queer/trans joy. Teague loves making hot chubby drag and making people smile with goofy antics!
Anthony Hudson (bio coming soon)
Tera (SUPERNOVA) Zarra is the hardest working strongwoman in America. She strives to push past physical limitations, smash expectations, and bring world-class entertainment to audiences. Supernova has performed for Nike, Intel, Game of Thrones, Red Dead Redemption II, and thousands of national and international venues.
Renée Muzquiz is a genre-bending singer-songwriter and actor in Portland. Curve Magazine has urged their listeners to “Keep an ear out for this one,” and she has shared the stage with prominent Portland musicians Jen Conlee (Decemberists), Ritchie Young (Loch Lomond), Jeremy Wilson (Dharma Bums) and Zia McCabe (Dandy Warhols). She currently sings and plays lead guitar in Major Tomboys, her all femme-identified David Bowie cover band.
Jason Potter – After graduating with a film degree, Jason Potter got a job as a television coordinator on a world-traveling cruise ship. After sailing the oceans for a few years, Jason came back to dry land armed with plenty of stories to tell. This began his love for storytelling. He founded the Affable Gentlemen Storytelling Show which ran successfully for many years at the Clinton Street Theater. He’s been a ghost tour guide and a storytelling curator for Pickathon. Jason also worked on documentaries for MTV and VH-1 as well as 4 Academy Award nominated stop-motion films and directed a few short films of his own.
Get ready to VOTE! Our digital premiere will screen on YouTube, October 27, 2020 at 7pm PST. Want to watch the QNC after that? For the rest of the week, we’ll be donating ticket sales to Portland’s Black Resilience Fund.
CURATOR/DIRECTOR BIO: Renée Muzquiz is a genre-bending singer-songwriter and actor in Portland. Curve Magazine has compared her vocals to a cross between Joni Mitchell and Tori Amos, and she has shared the stage with prominent Portland musicians Jen Conlee (Decemberists), Ritchie Young (Loch Lomond), Jeremy Wilson (Dharma Bums) and Zia McCabe (Dandy Warhols). She currently sings and plays lead guitar in Major Tomboys, her all female-identified David Bowie cover band.
Questions? Email reneesqueercabaret@gmail.com