~ mentions:
photo by Clay Geerdes
Showing posts with label Thrillpeddlers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thrillpeddlers. Show all posts
April 11, 2024
April 9, 2024
Rumi Missabu, the Marquis de Sade & the Cockettes
I met Rumi Missabu, aka James Bartlett, in 2012 when I attended a production of the 1963 play by Peter Weiss, The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by
the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the
Marquis de Sade (link below), when it was presented by the Thrillpeddlers. I met Tom Orr and other members of the cast as well but somehow, it was Rumi with whom I connected.
He
stayed at my studio in the mission when he was on his way to New York
to do who-knows-what because at that time I had no idea of the projects he was doing there. All I knew is that he had been a member of the avant garde psychedelic hippie theater group, The Cockettes.
Years before I met Rumi, in 1971 I saw one of the productions by The Cockettes, Journey to the Center of Uranus, which was playing at the Pagoda Palace Theatre in North Beach just on the edge of Chinatown in San Francisco. Divine, of Pink Flamingos fame, made an appearance in the number A Crab on Your Anus Means You’re Loved, dressed as a lobster, recalling the crustacean love scene in the John Waters film, Multiple Maniacs (link below), released only a year earlier, I vaguely remember the lobster bit in Journey but I don't remember Rumi.
Journey to the Center of Uranus poster
Rumi did a whacked out and totally weird (of course) cover of the 1972 Dan Hicks love song, I Scare Myself, which was used as a tribute to him in 2013 (link below).
We
lost touch with each other for over ten years and I only recently discovered in the SF Chronicle Datebook that he'd
been living most of the time here in Oakland, California, where he died last week.
Rumi is survived by his partner, Sebastian Cheron and his sisters Mary Bartlett and Debbie Mitzlaff. A third sister, Linda Gail Bartlett, died in 2018.
There is a fund-raiser to help the Bartlett Family cover burial expenses. Afternoon of a Thousand Rumi's, is the plan for a Memorial Potluck and Roast + BLUE HOUR (live entertainment, slide shows and movie clips), tentatively scheduled around Memorial Weekend which is before Pride Month (link below).
"Missabu was among the last surviving members of the Cockettes, the glittering, counter-culture performance group that burst onto the stage at North Beach’s Palace Theatre on New Year’s Eve in 1969-70. From 1970-1972, the Cockettes changed the face of drag and theater with their irreverent takes on genres spanning musicals to monster movies. Described by Missabu as “gender anarchists,” the Cockettes’ drag (worn by men and women) included everything from glittered beards to nudity and helped make the Bay Area an epicenter for experimental, gender-blending performance."
- Tony Bravo, SF Chronicle
Viewfinder links:
Net Links:
Bay Area Reporter ~ Rumi Missabu: Cockettes member & performing artist
Datebook ~ Rumi Missabu, original member of Cockettes, dies at 76 Go Fund Me ~ Community Memorial for Rumi Missabu
Google Books ~ Fopping It Up: Former Cockette's Story
NY Public Library ~ Rumi Missabu collection
Performing Arts ~ Plays with Rumi Missabu in 2010s
SF Chronicle ~ Rumi Missabu subject of documentary, Ruminations
Styrous® ~ Tuesday, April 9, 2024
September 6, 2023
Donatien Alphonse François, (Marquis de Sade) articles/mentions
August 25, 2023
The Thrillpeddlers
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They
also staged revivals of the Cockettes musicals. The company was founded
in 1991 by Russell Blackwood, who also served as the Artistic Director
and performed in many of the company’s stage productions. In 2004, Thrillpeddlers moved into the Hypnodrome Theatre located in the SOMA
district of San Francisco. Thrillpeddlers also developed an arts
education program in 2006 called Creepshow Camp, which taught horror and
science fiction performance skills to youth.
Thrillpeddlers was
operational for over 25 years until closing in 2017 when the owners of
the Hypnodrome Theatre decided to sell the building.
photo by David Allen Studio
The company performed an annual Shocktoberfest offering for 17 years and had major successes with revivals of many 1970's Cockettes musicals (working with maestro composer and original Cockette Scrumbly Koldewyn).
There is an archive of the performances with props, costumes, photographs, etc., that is open for research. Funding for this collection was provided by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) (link below).
Viewfinder links:
YouTube links:
Online Archive of California ~ Thrillpeddlers Collection
SF Chronicle ~ Thrillpeddlers lose venue; company future in doubt
Thrillpeddlers ~.
Styrous® ~ August 25, 2023
July 31, 2012
Marat/Sade
Recently, a friend visiting from Switzerland very casually mentioned to me that he was going to see the play, "Marat/Sade". After I peeled myself down from the ceiling, I screamed, "I have to see it, too!", and did just that. To understand why, read "20,000 Vinyl LPs 5: Marat/Sade".
The play (the full title of which is, "The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade"), was presented at the Brava Theatre (the old York Theater on 24th Street in the Mission) by San Francisco producer Marc Huestis and Russell Blackwood with his company, Thrillpeddlers.
(click on any image to see larger size)
Thrillpeddlers ad for Marat/Sade
After listening to the recording of the play for almost fifty years I had established images in my mind of what the play should look like. The set by James Blackwood fit them perfectly as did the wild costumes by Beaver Bauer and alice cunt (?). The production more than fulfilled my mind's images. They were surreal, vivid and fantastic! I was a very happy man.
The performances of the actors were intense, riveting and everything one could wish for.
cast and musicians
Bonnie Suval Jeff Garrett
(Charlotte Corday) (Marquis De Sade)
and Aaron Malberg ~
(Marat) ~
(Charlotte Corday) (Marquis De Sade)
and Aaron Malberg ~
(Marat) ~
photos by Daniel Nicoletta
Bonni Suval (left) Rumi Missabu (right)
photos by Daniel Nicoletta
The instrumentation was delightful and well done featuring a trumpet (with some fancy footwork), a recorder, a horn of some kind, a drum, a tambourine, a clarinet and keyboard played by Richard "Scrumbly" Koldewyn. The refrain of the key song succinctly tells the theme of the play:
Marat we're poor and the poor stay poor
Marat don't make us wait any moreMarat we're poor and the poor stay poor
We want our rights and we don't care how
We want our revolution NOW!
Ummmmmm . . . .
There is a video of Judy Collins singing the song on YouTube.
During the intermission I kibitzed in the lobby with Tom Orr who played the role of Kokol.
Tom Orr
photo by Styrous®
Curtain call by the Thrillpeddlers troupe
photo by Styrous®
After the show I found Rumi Missabu (who played Jacques Roux) in front of the theater enjoying a post-performance cigarette, so, we chatted for a bit. He and the other actors had done a fantastic job of establishing the feeling of insanity/genius for the production.
Rumi was an original member of the Cockettes and is now their archivist. Videos of him can be seen on YouTube. I remember seeing the Cockettes sometime in the seventies at the Palace Theater in North Beach. I saw a couple of their shows but the only one I remember is their last one, "Journey to the Center of Uranus". Divine was in that show. Who could forget Divine of "Pink Flamingos" fame? Or her wonderfully raspy voice belting out the disco "hit", "You Think You're a Man"? "Man" can be seen on YouTube".
Selections from the play can also be seen on YouTube.
The production ran from July 13 - 29, 2012.
Previews were on July 11 & 12, 2012.
What a once in a lifetime experience it was, literally. My thanks to all who brought this fantastic adventure to life.
Styrous® ~ July 31, 2012
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Styrous® ~ July 31, 2012
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