The Golden Girls: The Christmas Episodes Drag Show Returns To SF

San Francisco's four drag luminaries return in The Golden Girls: The Christmas Episodes 2011, an event to both revel and gleefully anticipate as the way to ring in the Holiday Season with a bangle. The formula is quite straightforward. Take 4 talented drag performers, cast them in two classic Xmas episodes of the ground-breaking and uproarious TV show: THE GOLDEN GIRLS, and hilarity is bound to ensue. The four girls playing the characters the entire world has come to know and love are Heklina (Dorothy), Cookie Dough (Sophia), Matthew Martin (Blanche) and Pollo Del Mar (Rose). Mike Finn and Laurie Bushman also are featured in the cast.

For Golden Girls fanatics and those in-the-know aficionados, the episodes being presented are:
Isn't It Romantic - During her Christmas visit, Dorothy's lesbian friend, Jean, falls for the naïve Rose.

Sister Of The Bride - Blanche's gay brother, Clayton, stays with The Girls over the Christmas Holiday and "Surprises" Blanche with the news that he plans to marry his boyfriend, Doug.

The Golden Girls: The Christmas Episodes 2011 returns to San Francisco for a limited engagement of 11 performances only! The show plays Dec. 1 - 23, 2011 - Thurs. Fri. & Sat. at 8:00 pm.
The individual performance dates are: Dec. 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23. We are moving to a larger venue this year - The Victoria Theatre, 2961 16th St. (btwn. Mission & Capp Sts.)
SF, CA 94103. Tickets are $25 and are available at http://www.ticketfly.com/venue/2161

YOUTUBE CLIPS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH0pd3q6pNU

Opening night Benefit info:
On Opening night of The Golden Girls: The Christmas Episodes 2011 - Thurs. December 1, 2011 8:00 pm we are making it a benefit for Project Open Hand - one of our most beloved Bay Area AIDS service organizations. For each ticket sold for opening night, a $5.00 donation will be made to Project Open Hand. http://www.ticketfly.com/event/60747/ In addition, to make opening night more festive, we are inviting audience members to attend the show wearing a XMAS SWEATER. After the performance there will be a XMAS SWEATER Fashion Show & Contest on stage in the following categories: 1. Most Christmessy, 2. Most Golden Girls and 3. Most Over The Top. The winner decided by our audience and prizes will be given to the winners. http://www.openhand.org/

Project Open Hand has been providing "meals with love" to people living with serious illnesses and to seniors in San Francisco and Alameda County and has served as a model for over 100 organizations all over the world since 1985. Meeting community nutrition needs through programs for people living with HIV/AIDS, the homebound critically ill, and seniors. Project Open Hand provides meals/groceries for people with symptomatic HIV/AIDS or breast cancer, meals for homebound/critically ill people under the age of 60 and congregate lunches for people over 60 years of age. Services are available to eligible clients living in San Francisco and Alameda counties, regardless of their race, color, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, disability or ability to pay.

The Golden Girls started performances in 2005 in the front parlor of a Victorian Mansion in the Western Addition. The shows quickly became more and more popular with the shows being performed twice annually - for a month every June and for a month each December. As The Golden Girls became more popular, they moved to larger quarters of sold out-runs at Mama Calizo's Voice Factory and then to CounterPULSE. This year 2011, they are not doing any June shows but moving to the larger Victoria Theatre for 11 performances for Xmas 2011.

The Golden Girls: The Christmas Episodes 2011 is directed by Matthew Martin. Set Design by Nathan Rapport, Lighting design by Joe D'Emilio, Costumes by Van Hedwall.

Cast Bios:
Heklina (Dorothy) gained fame as Trannyshack's erstwhile MC, keeping a tight rein on the chaos with her unflappable humor and sparkling wit. She is a premier hostess and DJ for hire around San Francisco, and has graced the Folsom St. Fair, Castro St. Fair, Gay Pride Main Stage, Castro Theater, and Halloween Main Stage, in addition to hosting numerous fundraisers for, among others, PAWS, Project Open Hand, AIDS Housing Alliance, Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinic, Bay Positives, Lyric, the AIDS Emergency Fund, the UCSF Positive Health Project, Community United Against Violence, and Marriage Equality. She has been seen on the E! Entertainment Network, NBC's "Trauma" "The Cho Show", VH1, "Playing it Straight", Comedy Central's "The Daily Show", BBC Television's "Around the World in 80 Raves", the Scissor Sister's "Filthy Gorgeous" video, and as a guest on the Jerry Springer and Ricki Lake shows. Her film credits include the festival favorites Baby Jane? and All About Evil. Theater credits include a starring role in the 2006 Theater Rhino production TROG!, and producer and featured actor (in the role of Dorothy Zbornak) in the popular San Francisco Golden Girls plays. She was voted Community Grand Marshal of the 2004 San Francisco GLBTQ Pride Parade, and was the subject of two documentaries in the 2005 Frameline SF Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. In 2009 she won the Pride Creativity Award for outstanding artistic contribution to the LGBT Community. Web site trannyshack.com

Matthew Martin (Blanche), a native San Franciscan, has been conjuring Bette Davis for many years in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and London stage productions including Awe About Eve, Hush Up, Sweet Charlotte, Whatever Happened to B.B. Jane?, and The Star. He recently completed the film parody Baby Jane?, starring as Baby Jane Hudson which premiered in SF's Frameline Film Festival and was also recently featured in the documentary Queer Icon: The Cult of Bette Davis. He has starred in countless stage productions in San Francisco including Theatre Rhino and multiple productions in town. An actor, singer, dancer, director, choreographer and man of many faces and voices, Matthew has also incarnated Joan Crawford in a stage parody of her last film Trog, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Garland, Ann Miller, Jane Russell, Susan Hayward, Peggy Lee, Eartha Kitt Mitzi Gaynor and many other stars of the Silver Screen. MM Has also had the pleasure of appearing at many Marc Huestis extravaganzas at the Castro TheateR. Martin is keeping Hollywood legends alive and well embodying their essences on many stages. He most recently appeared at the Rrazz Room with his solo show
All Singing, All Dancing, All Dead. As Blanche Devereaux, he has had the pleasure of working with his good friends in The Golden Girls since 2007.
Pollo Del Mar (Rose) is indispensable in San Francisco's LGBT community, and has acquired the sobriquet "The Queen of San Francisco Media," An award-winning San Francisco drag performer, personality, emcee, magazine cover girl, activist and celebrity journalist, she has shared the stage with gay icons from Lady Gaga to Katy Perry and Cyndi Lauper This is her fifth year portraying the world's favorite St. Olaf native Rose Nylund in The Golden Girls: Live. When not onstage, Pollo's interviews with Hollywood's A-List frequently appear on the cover of GLOSS Magazine, Northern California's premiere LGBT entertainment and lifestyles publication. Her column "The Glamazon Diaries" prints in The San Francisco Bay Times and her work now publishes around the world via Australia's GuideToGay.com. Find Pollo weekly at The Cafe, where she hosts The Castro's popular weekend drag show The GlamaZONE with Pollo Del Mar. Show time is Sun. nights, 9:30 pm.

Cookie Dough (Sophia) is an over-the-top personality and wild antics on stage and screen has made her an overnight sensation 20 years in the making! In the Spring of 2002, the ambitious entertainer launched "Cookie...After Dark." the cabaret show continues at Martuni's lounge in SF. In August 2004, "The Monster Show with Cookie Dough & DJ MC2" was launched in the Heart of the Castro. After nearly a 5 Year run at Harvey's Bar & Restaurant, the show has found a home at the newly remodeled Edge Bar, weekly on Thursdays, it is the Longest Running Drag Show In The Castro. Winning Best Drag Act - Best of the Bay 2006, Playing to sold-out audiences for the past five years, Cookie has co-produced The Golden Girls; amusingly playing the sharp-tongued character Sophia Petrillo. In 2010, Cookie was elected Grand Duchess Of San Francisco. This 38 year old Fundraising Organization fits in with Cookie's kind and giving spirit. Whether it is fundraisers for a wide array of local organizations or nonstop professional gigs, Cookie plans to remain on the stage for a long time to come.

TIX: Tickets are $25 // $30 at the door
and are available at http://www.ticketfly.com/venue/2161

VENUE: The Victoria Theatre, 2961 16th St. (btwn. Mission & Capp Sts.) SF, CA 94103

WEB PAGE: www.trannyshack.com

YOUTUBE CLIPS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH0pd3q6pNU

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