We’ve teamed up with our friends at Identical Cousins for a John Waters Tribute, featuring three John Waters masterworks in 35mm, and an immersive party full of polyester, pageantry, and poor taste.
The Films
The Party: Filthy Formal & Trash Talent Show
Presented by Identical Cousins
You’re invited to a dance party / variety show / excuse to wear your most vile, stupid, and repulsive formal fashions — Saturday night, June 21st, in the Crystal Ballroom at Somerville Theatre. You’ll inhabit a Pink Flamingo’d lawnscape, kneel at a shrine to Divine, pose for photos under a low-rent prom arch, and pencil in your own Maybeline mustaches, whilst sipping signature cocktails.
Be beguiled — if not outright scandalized — by our talent show, dripping with drag (Celia Smokinbutts), burlesque (Thru the Keyhole, Knuckles), poetry slams, musical acts, and truly taste-free puppetry. Your mind will be expanded by an exhibit curated by the Museum of Bad Art, straining any suburban respectability-fueled notions you may have about what art is. You’ll also learn to do “The Roach” and other demented dance steps before our final Dirty Dance Contest to win the much-coveted Cha-Cha Heels Trophy (black ones, natch!)
This isn’t just some awkward school dance where you’ll sweat through your synthetic fibers (although trust us, that will happen as DJ Johnny Stevens of Soulelujah spins the night away…). This is your rite of passage into a beautifully bizarre world where the misfits rule the school!