The return of the Sissyboys

The Sissyboy troupe

After an epic final show in October 2007, the unabashedly naughty Sissyboy shock drag troupe called it quits, and the gentlemen all, literally, went their own ways. But the dream never died. Various related performance groups arose and the Sissyboys released an underground documentary film.

Key member, Splendora (aka Lee Kyle), continued to perform around Portland before moving to New York City. Amazed at the Big Apple’s timidity, Kyle was determined to reunite the boys for a truly envelope-pushing east coast performance. Luckily, we get to see it first.

Thursday features an encore screening of the Sissyboy film at the Clinton Street Theatre (2522 SE Clinton Street) beginning at 9pm. Saturday features an all-new reunion show at Holocene (1001 SE Morrison). Two shows, at 8 and 11pm assure that we will all still be ready to shake it at the all new Blow Pony just down the street.

Though coordinating members Mark “Zebra” Thomas and Devan McGrath have admitted that this new show might be slightly tamer than previous material they assure us that it will not be “whitewashed” and have plenty of nude, raunchy fun. From Just Out:

The most singing. The most dancing. The most live music. Crazy dance numbers. “The best show we’ve ever written,” Thomas says.

Not wanting to divulge every detail, Thomas and McGrath tell Just Out the bare bones of the show, called “Sissyboy Washes Up.” Perhaps invoking The Pirates of Penzance—but with a gender-fucked twist, of course—Sissyboy will play the parts of Portland pirates sailing into New York, Thomas says, to take over the city’s performance art scene.

“It took me a while to see it as a good idea,” McGrath states. He’s quick to note that the Holocene shows and subsequent dates in New York (September 4-5) don’t mean that Sissyboy is getting back together. “We’re doing just this one [run],” he says.

“The reason why we’re doing this show is to practice for the New York show,” Thomas says, adding that it would be weird for Sissyboy to do a show in New York and not one in Portland.

Describing the venue Sissyboy will perform at in New York as a black-box theater, McGrath and Thomas express a little anxiety at the prospect of the troupe’s stage debut.