LEA DELARIA, CHEYENNE JACKSON, NIKOLA PRINTZ, DAVÓNE TINES, CHEF MELISSA KING and more

Q-LAB: AN ARTIST-CURATED SERIES INTRODUCED

SEASON ALSO INCLUDES THE RETURN OF THE MEMORY KEEPERS INITIATIVE AND THE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM “RHYTHM”

Tickets On Sale TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26

(SAN FRANCISCO, CA, November 22, 2024) - The Chan National Queer Arts Center (170 Valencia Street, San Francisco) announces a sizzling line-up of talent for their 2025 Winter season that brings a queernucopia of Internationally-renowned artists showcasing their talent and celebrating their queerness. The season includes Broadway and television stars Lea DeLaria and Cheyenne Jackson with their highly acclaimed cabaret shows as well as the introduction of a new series, Q-LAB that features artists Davóne Tines and Nikola Printz in multi-disciplinary works featuring classical and pop music, dance and queer-focused artistry. “Top Chef: All-Stars” winner Melissa King will be curating a queer Lunar New Year celebration with traditional snacks, burlesque performance, and lion dancers. The Memory Keepers Initiative, a popular oral-history project that captures the voices of living history, will return with two programs, featuring noted author and tribal leader Greg Sarris and Fine Arts Museum Curator Furio Rinaldi, the co-curator of the smash hit “Tamara De Lempicka” exhibition at the De Young Museum. The Queer Arts Center, home to the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, will feature singing members of the world’s first openly gay chorus in Come Together: A Beatles Cabaret and Anything Goes: A Broadway Sing-Along. In addition, SFGMC’s nationally-renowned education program RHYTHM will stage a special event featuring Bay Area youth ensembles at The Queer Arts Center for the very first time. Tickets are available now to members of SFGMC’s Conductor’s Society. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Tuesday, November 26th via sfgmc.org.

Beginning its second season of programming, The Queer Arts Center is quickly becoming one of the most artistically-diverse and popular venues for the presentation of queer arts across the globe. This winter season has something for everyone - from opera to pop, comedy, culinary and visual arts that speak to the whole of the LGBTQ+ community and its allies. Spring and Summer events at The Queer Arts Center will be announced in the near future. The Queer Arts Center season is curated by Richard Lonsdorf and Jacob Stensberg. Funding for The season is made possible by the generosity of Janet Cluff, Steve Gallagher/Coldwell Banker and Nick Harper.

Lea DeLaria, the winner of a SAG, Obie and Theatre World Award and who earned the distinction of being the first openly gay comic on television in America, returns home to San Francisco where her career began in 1982 for two performances of her new show Out Rage on Saturday, January 18. Cheyenne Jackson, the Tony Award-nominated and Drama Desk and Grammy Award-winning actor/singer, brings his one-man show Signs of Life, a deeply personal and uproariously funny exploration of the universe’s subtle cues, to The Queer Arts Center for two performances on Valentine’s Day (February 14). 

New this season is the introduction of Q-LAB, an interdisciplinary space for artistic innovation, where music transcends traditional boundaries and connects across styles, genres, and identities. Each performance is crafted as a thesis—a compelling artistic statement from the stage that draws audiences into new perspectives. Through immersive staging and innovative design, Q-LAB invites audiences not only to witness but to feel deeply and viscerally experience the stories, emotions, and ideas shared in the space. To inaugurate this series, pioneering bass-baritone Davóne Tines presents Queering the Mass on Friday, January 31 and Saturday, February 1. The New Yorker says “In a matter of minutes, we had traversed multiple centuries and worlds.”  Nikola Printz, an Adler Fellow for San Francisco Opera whose singing has been called “vibrant and tonally resplendent” by The San Francisco Chronicle, headlines the season’s second Q-LAB March Madness on Friday, March 21 and Saturday, March 22. Q-LAB is made possible through the generous support of Terrence D. Chan and Edward Sell.

To celebrate Lunar New Year, The Queer Arts Center welcomes “Top Chef: All-Stars” winner and TV personality Melissa King as she puts her signature spin on an event that will showcase, celebrate and empower the queer Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. 

The Memory Keepers Initiative, The Queer Arts Center’s queer oral history project, which is also broadcast and streamed in an edited form on NPR-affiliate KALW, memorializes those whose earlier efforts built the modern LGBTQ movement. Inaugurating its second season is “Tamara De Lempicka: Queen of Art Deco” on Thursday, January 23. Led by Curator of Drawings and Prints at the San Francisco’s Fine Arts Museum Furio Rinaldi, who also served as the co-curator of the Lempicka exhibit, this special event is Rinaldi’s exclusive Bay Area lecture about the bisexual artist, currently on display at the De Young Museum. On Thursday, February 20, The Memory Keeper’s Initiative will host Greg Sarris, Chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria and author of The Forgetters, in conversation with Jane Ciabattari. Sarris will read excerpts from his work and discuss his journey navigating multiple identities and cultural spheres, exploring how remembering shared histories can help repair the world.

Come Together: A Beatles Cabaret will feature members from the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus in an intimate cabaret performance under the direction of SFGMC’s Music Supervisor and Principal Accompanist Danny Sullivan for two performances on Saturday, March 1. Last year’s cabaret sold out immediately and due to popular demand, a second performance has been scheduled this season.

Anyone who likes to sing is invited to Anything Goes: A Broadway Sing-Along on Friday, March 14. This family-friendly event, led by SFGMC Artistic Director Jacob Stensberg, gives everyone a chance to channel their inner Broadway diva, alongside members of SFGMC. The evening includes a special sneak preview by the Chorus of upcoming numbers from Broadway, Our Way, playing at the Curran Theater on March 29.

Expanding their popular educational program RHYTHM (Reaching Youth Through Music) to The Queer Arts Center, members of several different youth choruses will attend a special one-day event led by Associate Director of Music, Education and Outreach Mitch Galli. At a typical RHYTHM, members of the Chorus work directly with school administrators, educators and students to build understanding around issues facing today’s youth. RHYTHM helps guide students to make positive choices around acceptance, builds empathy and encourages students to become leaders and advocates for equal rights. This special event is private and not included on The Queer Arts Center’s public calendar. Participating groups will be announced at a later date.

“With The Chan National Queer Arts Center, we are focused entirely on queer arts and artists. By opening our doors to a diverse range of ideas and performance mediums, we’ll create community, creativity and collaboration,” stated Artistic Director Jacob Stensberg. “This landmark space is a place for creativity and activism and we could not be more thrilled about this upcoming season. When we began planning, it was clear that for it to succeed, it must reflect our entire community and offer established and emerging artists an opportunity to explore their craft and their passion. It is one reason we are investing in our new Q-LAB series, and we know that Bay Area audiences will find the programs stimulating and memorable.”

“I cannot wait to share this season with Bay Area audiences," stated Richard Lonsdorf, The Queer Arts Center's newly appointed Director of Programming. "Having worked with many of these artists in other spaces over the years, I can share that it is a thrill for all of us to be creating work at a place like The Chan National Queer Arts Center that offers space for queer artists to be their unfiltered selves and to laugh, reflect, provoke and celebrate together with our own community. These events represent only a small fraction of what queer artists in this country have to offer, and I look forward to sharing more as we continue to bring this game-changing venue to life."

“There is an African proverb that says ‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together’,” stated SFGMC CEO Christopher Verdugo. “This season, we are set to go further than ever before. In the face of rising challenges, we turn to the things that unite and uplift us: music, art and community. Together, with our gifted singers, valued community and school partners, generous donors, dedicated staff and enthusiastic audiences, we are creating a space for healing, a place where voices from across the LGBTQ+ community and our allies come together to celebrate our shared humanity. With unity as our guiding force, we will continue to lead by creating extraordinary music and transformative experiences that build community, inspire activism and foster compassion.”

FULL SCHEDULE:

The Chan National Queer Arts Center

170 Valencia Street, San Francisco

Tickets at sfgmc.org

• SATURDAY, JANUARY 18 - Lea DeLaria: Out Rage at 6:00 PM and 8:30 PM

• THURSDAY, JANUARY 23 at 7:30 PM- Memory Keepers Initiative - Tamara De Lempicka: Queen of Art Deco, featuring Furio Rinaldi

• FRIDAY, JANUARY 31 at 7:30 PM - Q-LAB: Davóne Tines, Queering The Mass

• SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1 at 7:30 PM - Q-LAB: Davóne Tines , Queering The Mass

• THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6 AT 7:00 PM - Chef Melissa King’s LUNAR NEW YEAR CELEBRATION

• FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14 at 6 PM and 8:30 PM - Cheyenne Jackson Signs of Life

• THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20 at 7:30 PM - Memory Keepers Initiative - Greg Sarris, “The Forgetters: An Evolving Story”

• SATURDAY, MARCH 1 at 3:00 PM and 8:00 PM - Come Together: A Beatles Cabaret

• FRIDAY, MARCH 14 at 7:30 PM- ANYTHING GOES A Broadway Community Sing-Along

• FRIDAY, MARCH 21 AT 7:30 PM - Q-LAB: Nikola Printz, March Madness

• SATURDAY, MARCH 22 at 7:30 PM - Q-LAB: Nikola Printz, March Madness

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

LEA DeLARIA: OUT RAGE

With a multi-faceted career as a comedian, actor and jazz musician that began in San Francisco’s Mission District in 1982, Lea DeLaria holds the distinction of being the first openly gay comic on television in America, and earned a place in our hearts from her three-time SAG Award Winning role as Carrie “Big Boo” Black in the hit Netflix series Orange is the New Black. Now, the acclaimed jazz vocalist, Emmy Winner, and author of the infamous U-Haul joke takes aim at WTF is happening in the world today, bringing her Sicilian rage, sharp tongue, and musical prowess to the Chan National Queer Arts Center. In other words, it will be an unforgettable evening of song and dance.

FURIO RINALDI: “TAMARA DE LEMPICKA: QUEEN OF ART DECO”

A Memory Keepers Initiative Special Event

On the occasion of the first major museum retrospective of Lempicka in the United States at The DeYoung Museum, Curator Furio Rinaldi offers an in-depth, multimedia presentation about the artist’s distinctive style and gender-defying life journey, as well her iconic cultural influence among drag queens, pop stars, and celebrity collectors. With works that exuded cool elegance and transgressive sensuality, Tamara de Lempicka (1894–1980) helped define Art Deco. Her paintings captured the glamor and vitality of postwar Paris and the cosmopolitan sheen of Hollywood celebrity. Although she moved among the most influential circles in 1920s Paris, 1940s Hollywood and beyond, her identity as a queer woman has not been widely discussed. 

Q-LAB - DAVÓNE TINES: QUEERING THE MASS

Pioneering bass-baritone and creator Davóne Tines queers the Catholic mass by transforming it into a non-denominational structure for dealing with human problems. About the program, The New Yorker says “In a matter of minutes, we had traversed multiple centuries and worlds, yet all the music was filtered through the taut resonance of one voice: a timbre at once grand and fraught, potent and vulnerable.” Join Davóne along with his band THE TRUTH (John Bitoy, piano and Khari Lucas, sound artist and electric bass) as they weave classical, gospel, baroque, jazz, and opera into a journey of personal reckoning.

CHEF MELISSA KING’S LUNAR NEW YEAR CELEBRATION

Queer the new year with celebrity chef and TV personality Melissa King, the Top Chef: All-Stars winner and fan favorite, as she puts her signature spin on the Lunar New Year in an event that will showcase, celebrate and empower the queer Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. Chef King’s gigantic grazing board anchors the celebration, full of traditional snacks you won’t want to miss. Guests will be treated to burlesque, lion dancers and other performances throughout the night, with lucky red envelopes, a DJ and more surprises. Don’t miss your chance to get lucky at the most fabulous celebration in town! Tickets to this event will be available at a later date to be announced.

CHEYENNE JACKSON: SIGNS OF LIFE

Emmy- and Grammy-nominated luminary Cheyenne Jackson brings his infectious charm and powerhouse vocals to The Queer Arts Center with Signs of Life, a musical meditation on art, love, fatherhood, and the cosmic twists that have shaped his remarkable path. In Signs of Life, Cheyenne invites audiences on a deeply personal and uproariously funny exploration of the universe’s subtle cues. From toe-tapping melodies to saucy showbiz anecdotes, prepare for an unforgettable night filled with whimsy, laughter, and the sheer joy of a perfectly imperfect night of shared experience.

GREG SARRIS: “THE FORGETTERS: AN EVOLVING STORY”

A Memory Keepers Initiative Special Event

Author Greg Sarris, who serves as Chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, dives into his latest novel The Forgetters—a tender, astonishing, and richly beautiful story cycle about remembering our shared histories and repairing the world. In conversation with fellow author and cultural critic Jane Ciabattari, Sarris will share excerpts from his novel, told in the classic style of Southern Pomo and Coast Miwok creation stories. Greg Sarris has navigated many identities and cultural spheres, as a gay man, born of a German Jewish mother, a southern Pomo/Coast Miwok/Filipino father, as a tribal leader, a professor, a screenwriter, co-producer, always as a storyteller, with books of nonfiction and fiction. Sarris will recount his journey through academia, literature and film to the highest levels of leadership in his tribe and his community, as well as serving on the UC Board of Regents and as board chair of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.

COME TOGETHER: A BEATLES CABARET

Whether you’ve traveled the Long and Winding Road or just scored a Ticket to Ride, SFGMC’s Come Together is the destination for you and melds perfectly with SFGMC’s year-long theme of “Together!”. Singers from the Chorus deliver distinctive versions of greatest hits from The Beatles catalog, performing solos, duets, and small group numbers in a cabaret setting that includes fabulous drinks from our bar. You’ll be sure to turn your Hard Day’s Night into a memorable Yesterday! The Beatles are the seminal rock band that bridges generations and whose message of love, peace and understanding are the playlist of our collective consciousness. Under the direction of SFGMC Principal Accompanist Danny Sullivan.

ANYTHING GOES: A BROADWAY SING-ALONG

If you’ve ever wanted to sing with the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus—this is your chance! This family-friendly sing-along brings the epic theatrical energy of the Broadway stage to the Chan National Queer Arts Center as Artistic Director Jake Stensberg leads YOU in some of your favorite musical numbers in a musical preview of the Chorus’s upcoming spring concert Broadway, Our Way playing March 29 at the Curran Theater. Members of the SFGMC will offer a special preview of that concert as well as sing alongside you and extend the community, wellness and joy of singing. No singing skill required. This is an event for all ages!

Q-LAB - NIKOLA PRINTZ MARCH MADNESS

Artistically fluid opera star Nikola Printz, the singing acrobatic sensation who has delighted local audiences at SF Symphony's Holiday Gaiety, the SF Opera's Carmen Encounter and other stages, brings together a fabulous cast of characters for a grand, campy evening of madness in every sense of the word. Joined by pianist Bob Mollicone and other queer artists, Printz will lure audiences to the brink of sanity—from the famous meltdowns of Lucia di Lammermoor, the lovers' quarrels of Kurt Weill and punk rock rage of Nina Hagen. With music drawn from across the spectrum of pop, opera, broadway and more, this evening is sure to offer the cathartic scream we've all been searching for.

SAN FRANCISCO GAY MEN’S CHORUS 

Founded in 1978, SFGMC sparked a nationwide LGBTQ choral movement after its first public performance at a vigil on the steps of City Hall following the assassinations of Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone. Since then, SFGMC has been embedded in the fabric of San Francisco. It has soothed souls in pain, lifted spirits in triumph, and has remained a steadfast beacon of hope. Under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer Chris Verdugo and Artistic Director Jacob Stensberg, SFGMC has established a heightened level of performance standards bringing renewed audience and choral industry acclaim. 

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ABOUT THE CHAN NATIONAL QUEER ARTS CENTER

The Pansy L. Chan and Terrence D. Chan National Queer Arts Center is the nation’s first LGBTQ center for community, creativity and collaboration. This landmark space, that also serves as the home of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, is the first of its kind in the country — an artistic sanctuary for queer artists to call home, a space for audiences to share their lived experiences, and a beacon of inspiration and empowerment for queer individuals nationwide who are confronting oppression. A place for art and activism. 

For more information, visit www.sfgmc.org

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SFGMC MEDIA CONTACT:

Scott Walton 415.350.5195/scottwaltonsf@gmail.com

Individual artist press materials available on request