At CounterPulse Festival, VivvyAnne ForeverMORE!’s Drag Extravaganza Sparkles

As a young drag queen, VivvyAnne ForeverMORE! spent many a night backstage, listening to her drag elders gossip and cackle under the glow of dressing room lights. Now, as a drag mother herself, she’s passed down wisdom to younger artists while gluing eyelashes and rhinestones.

This form of queer oral history — rarely documented or seen by the general public — is part of her upcoming drag extravaganza simply titled The Show. The multi-venue event takes place on Oct. 14 as part of San Francisco’s CounterPulse Festival, and features an array of performances that invite audiences to partake in the otherwise private, behind-the-scenes rituals that make drag not just a form of entertainment, but a way to foster community and chosen family.

ForeverMORE! says that she and co-producer Julie Phelps, executive director of CounterPulse!, had the word “epic” in mind while designing the programming, which takes place in and around the Tenderloin, much of it free and outdoors. “I want these incidental moments of drag art on the street to be these moments of potential beauty for people,” says ForeverMORE!

Festivities kick off from 1–5 p.m. with “The Peepshow,” where 16 drag artists — including leading disability justice advocate Glamputee and Lisa Frankenstein, co-host of Oasis’ popular drag party Princess — take turns lip syncing behind the glass of CounterPulse’s lobby.

“The audience is literally on Turk Street, which is a very active area,” ForeverMORE! says, noting the neighborhood’s poignant history: CounterPulse is just blocks from the former site of Compton’s Cafeteria, an all-night diner where trans women and drag queens rioted against police brutality in 1966.

For ForeverMORE!, the history of how LGBTQ+ identity was criminalized adds weight to The Show’s glamorous and theatrical displays. “We didn’t just exist at nighttime, but we weren’t allowed to gather in public,” she says.

Celebrating gender-nonconformity in daylight is a core theme that runs through The Show — and an important one as anti-trans laws continue to sweep the nation.

From 2–5 p.m. at The Strand Theater (a short walk from CounterPulse), eight drag artists will partake in one-on-one conversations on stage. Meant to replicate those aforementioned backstage kikis, “The Talks” pair Nicki Jizz, creator of San Francisco’s only all-Black drag show Reparations, for a conversation with KING LOTUS BOY, the 2023 San Francisco Drag King Contest winner and another formidable disability justice activist. Glamamore — VivvyAnne ForeverMORE!’s drag mother and couture designer to the drag stars — will be in conversation with drag artist, choreographer and author Fauxnique.

“I love backstage, not because it’s VIP, but because it’s funny and hilarious and full of jokes, you know?” ForeverMORE! says.

Just a high-heeled hop and skip away from The Strand at Civic Center UN Plaza, “The Photoshoot” will feature street performances from VERA, Newonce, HELIXIR, Bindi Masala, Venus Superstar Bizarre, Mary Vice and Yves Saint Croissant. DJ aunteejoan will spin while Butter Rugged and Marcel Pardo Ariza snap pictures.

“Then we have drag artists walking to Civic Center from where they parked or from BART or whatever,” says ForeverMORE! of the atmosphere she hopes to cultivate. “Like maybe you’re visiting San Francisco and you just happened to be walking down Market and you pass by Newonce and you’re like, ‘Why is there a drag queen at 4 p.m.?’”

All of the events are free except for “The Finale” and a VIP reception with food and drinks at the Line Hotel, where ForeverMORE! will announce a new arts initiative with her collaborators at the Stud Collective, the group of workers who plan to reopen their historic LGBTQ+ venue in a new location in 2024. And finally, The Show will wrap with a performance at CounterPulse that includes live vocals and aerial dance, starring Dulce De Leche, Militia Scunt, Gina LaDivina, Pseuda, Churro Nomi and Major Hammy.

ForeverMORE! says she dreamt up The Show to celebrate the dedicated drag artists who — through ingenuity, sacrifice and resourcefulness — created an intergenerational community that helps each other find the courage to flourish. “One of the coolest parts, particularly about Bay Area drag, is you can start here,” she says. “You can start off here and be encouraged pretty quickly. People will embrace you and pull you in and offer support.”

‘The Show’ takes place at CounterPulse and other San Francisco locations Oct. 14 1–8:30 p.m. “The Peepshow” will stream on CounterPulse’s Twitch channel, and “The Peepshow,” “The Talks” and “The Finale” offer ASL interpretation. Details and tickets here.