DEAD FOR 100 YEARS, DRAG QUEEN, FORMER SLAVE AND ACTIVIST WILLIAM DORSEY SWAN TO BE BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE THROUGH QUEER CABARET SEANCE

About this event

Saturday Evenings In July

7PM Dinner Seating and Sing-A-Long $20

8PM =General Admission Tickets $25

100 years ago Former Slave and Drag Queen Activist , William Dorsey Swann left their earthly body and slipped into the unknown ether.

This July 3, 2021 is the 100th Anniversary of Swann’s Final Ball Appearance —In an effort of good will , Our Hallo Amerika Cast is invoking her spirit from the afterlife to demonstrate the power of the people and show her how America has changed.

With a portion of the proceeds going to the So Cal ACLU, the mission of this experience is to share information with our friends and neighbors through performance and music to demonstrate how to actively participate in changing our world.

Using music from Popular Artists like Kesha, Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus, combined with classic songs such as Wilkommen from Cabaret and others, Hallo Amerika takes 150 years of history into account and asks the question, “What has changed?”

A portion of the proceeds from Hallo Amerika will be donated to the Southern California ACLU.

Hallo Amerika Show : A Cabaret Experience image

ABOUT THE SHOW

“There couldn’t be a more timely production than Hallo Amerika, in content or presentation,” says Writer-Director Mark A. Dahl. “Every year around pride month a meme pops up with Swann’s photo and it always captivates me. Here is this 100 some year old photo of a man in drag and I’m always drawn to it wondering how it could even be possible? If Swann’s story has not been told, how many of our stories are still out there waiting to be uncovered? After researching the little tidbits of what I can find out about Swann’s life, it made me think, What would Swann think of the nation we have become?”

Our lead character ,William Dorsey Swann, died in 1925. Swann was the founder of not only the ball scene but was the first gay activist on record. There is a tidbit of history that revealed Swann’s request for a pardon and on the document, the name listed is “Dorsey Swann”. Could Swann be a Trans Woman without the vernacular to express what she was?

I was recently incredibly moved by a song that is new to me called “Highwomen” by The Highwomen , a take on the classic Highway men. In the song, four ghosts from history tell the tale of their fate at the hands of righteous men. All four women were murdered because of their sex and beliefs. I wondered what Swann would think of these women’s fates and boom, I had the idea for Hallo Amerika.

This show is a fantasy and poses these questions, “What has really changed in 100 years since Swann’s passing? Can we make REAL change? Can we change the course of society?

The show to me is part social experiment, part cabaret and part history lesson.”

-Mark A. Dahl