PORT ANGELES — The Urban Poetess, a song in sign language, a drag king and queen: The Cabaret in Red will bring these, along with dancers, musicians and spoken-word artists, together inside the Little Theater at Peninsula College this Saturday night.
Presented by the college’s Rainbow Alliance, the Cabaret in Red is an AIDS awareness-raiser as well as a benefit. All of the performers are donating their time, and proceeds from ticket sales will benefit local people living with HIV and AIDS, specifically to help them cover travel to Seattle for medical care.
Tickets are $10 in advance — $7.50 for students with ID — at Good to Go Grocery, 1105 S. Eunice St., Port Angeles. Remaining tickets will be sold at the door for $15 starting at 7:30 p.m.; curtain time will be 8 p.m. Saturday at the college’s theater, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
This cabaret, named for the red ribbons that are an international symbol of AIDS awareness, has performance artist and poet Angie River of Port Angeles as its producer and mistress of ceremonies.
The night will be “jam-packed with awesomeness,” she declared.
Many of the performers have appeared in other cabaret shows in Port Angeles: Noelle Smithhart, aka the Urban Poetess, will explore her favorite topics, such as love, lust, consumerism and beauty.
Salmonella Riviere, the town’s most prominent drag queen, will leap onto the stage too, in a handmade “statement costume.”
“It’s part activism, part fashion, part art,” Riviere said, “and hopefully, I will get people talking.”
The Cabaret in Red may well travel from the sublime to the proudly ridiculous, with tribal fusion dancer Ana Belle Gulin of Port Townsend, singer-guitarist Bradford King of the Seattle band Urban Jellyfish and Port Angeles drag king Geezer Teezer, known for his winsome gray beard.
Heidi Lynn Hardesty of Port Angeles will perform a song in sign language, accompanied by singer and dancer Bunny Rarebits. And Nemesis Theatre Productions, a new ensemble made up of Leah Bauman, Shannon Cosgrove and Manda Lavin, will add two of their performance pieces to the mix.
More about the performers and the fundraiser — which will also have opportunities to donate beyond the admission price — awaits on the Cabaret in Red event page on Facebook.