Remember, this is all about Science
This Philly drag show tackles climate change — on ice
On a cold, sunny morning at an ice rink along the Delaware River in Philadelphia, a live band plays a ballad. A Zamboni clears the rink, and Sam Rise, a performance artist in a big blue penguin mascot costume, skates out on the ice — hyping the audience up for a show unlike anything they’ve seen before.
“Are you ready, Philadelphia? Are you excited about drag? Are you excited about climate change?” they shout. “I mean, fighting climate change with drag!”
The show is a camp comedy about climate change by the Bearded Ladies Cabaret, a queer arts organization in Philly.
“The premise of the story is climate change is … such a huge issue, it’s almost as impossible as getting drag queens to skate on ice,” said John Jarboe, founding artistic director of the Bearded Ladies Cabaret. Jarboe wrote the show with another local artist, MK Tuomanen, along with help from local climate activist groups.
The protagonist — and antagonist — of the show is Miss Hugh Manity. She wants to stop warming the planet, but she has a hard time breaking away from her “girl gang” of fossil fuels: Mx. Coal, Mr. Oil, and Mx. Natural Gas.
Oh, good grief, I just can’t read anymore after that. It can’t possibly get more batshit insane, can it? Of course it could.
Hugh Manity tries to buy her way out of climate change with carbon credits, but that doesn’t work.
Eventually, a character called Nonbinary Parental Guardian Nature tells Hugh Manity she can’t keep making everything about herself.
FFS.
“I am noticing a difference and feel wildly overwhelmed by it,” Jarboe said.
The show aims to build a “shared space” for both this climate anxiety and climate hope.
“Especially for the young folks, the younger generation, who we’ve fracked over,” Jarboe said.
So, basically, indoctrination into the climate cult and gender confused insanity.
