🎭 NEW! Portland Theatre Newsletter

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 Fuse Theatre Ensemble will present Mikki Gillette’s Riot Queens. The play dramatizes the Compton’s Cafeteria Riots, a trans woman-led, anti-police uprising in San Francisco that predates Stonewall by three years. Performances run March 5-29.

🎭 NEW! Portland Theatre Newsletter

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Based on Gillette’s extensive research, Riot Queens explores the political, social and interpersonal dynamics leading to the event through its three main characters: Dixie who advocates for queer rights as a member of Vanguard, an activist group for street youth; Haley, a sex worker with a traumatic past who fears that the changes taking place will threaten the precarious life she’s built, and Nina, a newcomer torn between the life she can envision for herself, and the debt she feels she owes her community.

At a time when opponents of trans rights seek to cast doubt on the legitimacy of trans identities, Riot Queens attests to the truth of the statement that “trans people have always existed,” and will never stop fighting.

RIOT QUEENS

Directed by Harper York, Artistic Director of Pittsburgh Classic Players

with…


Bryn Bollimpali as Nina
Ethan Feider as Haley
Nineveh de La Luz Herrera as Dixie
Riplie Sugden as Lorraine
Christian Gutierrez as Jean-Paul and Cop
Tyler Hunt as Frank and Cop
Costume design by Harper York
Lighting design by Sophina Flores
Scenic & props design by Ezra Maria Ferdynant Goetzen
Sound Design by Alex Hollis

Mikki Gillette is an award-winning playwright who’s been called “the Joan of Arc of the trans community in Portland theatre” by Oregon Arts Watch. Her show American Girl was featured in American Theatre and voted Best Play in the Broadway World Portland Awards following its 2023 production. Other productions include The Queers (Fuse Theatre ’22), My Perfectly Valid Objections (Salt and Sage ’23), and They Them Their (Fuse Theatre ’23), and Blonde on a Bum Trip (Fuse Theatre ’24), No More Candy (Salt and Sage ’24), Tears and Glitter (Salt and Sage ’25), and Mimetic Desire (Salt and Sage ’25). Upcoming shows include The Dark Stuff (Twilight Theatre ’26) and Exploding Hearts (Salt and Sage ’27). Learn more at: mikkigillette.com.

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