Public Domain
Get Into the Spirit Times 3
By now, surely anyone with even a passing interest in Christmas knows about Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and how the story pretty much dictated how we feel about the holiday for the rest of all time. In short, some rich jerk is haunted by ghosts who dish out jerkishness in equal measure, and the next day is all about un-jerking because Christmas. It’s a classic, right? Right. This year, Santa Fe theater troupe Upstart Crows presents a dramatic reading of Dickens’ holiday feel-goods, and we’re willing to bet it’ll put you in the mood—especially when that horrifying Ghost of Christmas Future shows up sporting totally heavy and brutal death robes in an effort to drive home the dying alone point. The moral? Don’t horde gold like some kind of dragon. Share and stuff. (Alex De Vore)
A Christmas Carol Dramatic Reading: 6:30 pm Thursday, Dec. 23. $15. Shakespeare Reading Room, 3209 Calle Marie, (505) 466-3533
SFR File Photo
Short ’n’ Fast
After who even knows how many years languishing forgotten, our once-annual 3-Minute Film Fest returns this year, and not a moment too soon. See, we’d originally set out to revitalize the program of locally-made super-shorts way back in the before times, and with pandemic lockdowns and numbers and everything else going down, an in-person event date became a moving target. We’ve set one now—thanks to our pals at the Center for Contemporary Arts—and are proud to present movies that’ll make you laugh, cry, think, scream, drink and ponder. Don’t forget to bring your vaxx proof or negative COVID-19 test and don’t forget the films will likely get weird. (ADV)
2021 3-Minute Film Festival: 6 pm Wednesday, Dec. 29. $10. Center for Contemporary Arts, 1050 Old Pecos Trail, (505) 982-1338
Courtesy geekswhodrink.com
Here Be Geeks
Say you know the average measurement of a certain breed of shrimp. Or maybe you’ve got all the facts about the Wright brothers’ religious beliefs? The average number of bugs mixed into an ordinary jar of peanut butter? It’s time to unleash your mostly-useless knowledge and, while you’re at it, get rewarded for your mental troubles. Take yourself and your skill for hoarding useless knowledge to Second Street Brewery in the Railyard. Who is the deputy secretary of the Treasury? What’s the most common root plants to cure chronic pains? Which state has sent the most presidents to the White House? Form a team or fly solo and let ‘em know; grab a drink and remember. Trivia night is yours to lose. (Riley Gardner)
Geeks Who Drink: 8 pm Wed, Dec. 29, Free. Second Street Brewery (Railyard), 1607 Paseo de Peralta, (505) 989-3278
Courtesy Who I Am Foundation
All You Need Is You
The hows and whys of food inaccessibility often aren’t our business, but suffice it to say there are those who struggle to eat regularly due to circumstances many will never understand. For some in Santa Fe, regularly available warm food becomes yet another part in an odyssey of challenges. This is where you come in. In an attempt to make the world a little better, Santa Fe’s branch of the Who I Am Foundation invites you to DeVargas Park to help distribute warm food to folks in need. You don’t need prior experience, just the will to get out there and help set up and hand over a meal, no questions asked. You see? It’s that easy. If you’ve ever tweeted about or pondered over your own privilege, now’s the time to go use that privilege for something constructive. (RG)
Warm Meal Distribution: 4:30 pm Thurs, Dec. 30. Free. De Vargas Park, 302 W. De Vargas St. whoiamfoundation.org
Public Domain
Auld Lang Syne-ing it Up
So long, 2021—you horrible, horrible year
Who among us can wait to close out what might have been the weirdest year of our lives? We know we’re ready for 2021 to fade into memory, and for the promise of a new year and clean slate to make us feel feelings again. And so, with the caveat that you absolutely cannot fuck around when it comes to being vaxx’d and masked, enter a number of NYE events for dancers, families, normies, weirdos and nerds:
Fenix at Vanessie kicks it off earliest at 7 pm with an evening featuring piano, trumpet and voice with Al Rogers, Alyx Murzyn and Chiefo Sanchez. Assuming you go for an hour, you can be fashionably late to Chili Line Brewery’s 8 pm dance party with DJs Kap and Kirk or the Faculty Lounge comedy and improv show at Jean Cocteau Cinema. Then, by 10 pm, you could be over at Meow Wolf’s Carousel blowout featuring Spoolius Melange, Tone Ranger and DJ Ana M. We hear that one will sell out soon, though, and if that’s the case, you can ring in the changeover on The Plaza come midnight. There’s lots more we couldn’t fit here, too—which you can find online at sfreporter.com/cal—just be safe, don’t drink and drive and pray to everything good 2022 works out better. (ADV)
NYE @Fenix at Vanessie: 7 pm Friday, Dec. 31. Free. Fenix at Vanessie, 427 W Water St., (505) 982-9966
NYE Pre-Party: 8 pm Friday, Dec. 31. Free. Chili Line Brewery, 204 N Guadalupe St., (505) 982-8784
Faculty Lounge Comedy & Improv: 8 pm Friday, Dec. 31. $35. Jean Cocteau Cinema, 418 Montezuma Ave., (505)466-5528
Carousel @Meow Wolf: 10 pm Friday, Dec. 31. $55. Meow Wolf, 1352 Rufina Circle, (505)395-6369
NYE on the Plaza: 8 pm Friday, Dec. 31. Free. Santa Fe Plaza, 100 Old Santa Fe Trail
Arlo Duke
A Brrr-Lesque Winter
Deconstructing gender the sexy way
“Queer culture is constantly evolving. We’re not just consumers of culture and and sex—we make it. We’re on the frontier,” Audrey Huang, whose stage name is Morgon Sedusa, tells SFR. “Good burlesque is the same. It’s the burden of always needing to create. It’s life giving and it’s also survival.”
Huang is determined to build a queer burlesque scene in Santa Fe, though that’s hardly an easy task in a town that doesn’t always scream queer counter-culture in aesthetic, even if we’ve got a ton of queer gender-bending citizens. The stage has always been synonymous with queer expression through drag, cabaret and burlesque, however, with each mixing into one another in a glorious melange. A venue like circus/performance space Wise Fool New Mexico seems the logical place for such a movement to land.
“I’m inspired by Morgon’s vision,” co-producer and kitten (aka stage manager) Kim Gryphon, adds. “A lot of drag is coming into these burlesque acts. Queerness is inherently creative, and [this show helps the] creative desire to connect and support and see each other—to see ourselves—in a way we don’t see ourselves represented.”
Through performance, the Gender(queer) Reveal Burlesque Show is meant to dismantle conditioned societal concepts of gender. Thankfully, participating artists plan to avoid the usual gender-reveal party staples like the seemingly never-ending and cis-led expensive gestures and explosions that have somtimes led to mass destruction. Instead, find the performers of Zircus Erotique joining with headliner They Von Gay to tackle the passé topic. And bring singles to tip your performers.
“What is gender? It isn’t this blue and pink that people think of,” Huang explains. “Womanhood dies on our stage, and it never quite comes back. It’s a box broken down, but there’s still so much left. You break down that box and you’re free.” (RG)
Gender(queer) Reveal Burlesque Show: 7 pm Sun, Jan 2. $12-$20 sliding scale. Wise Fool New Mexico, 1131 Siler Road, (505) 992-2588.
