Crashing The Cis-tem: The Dyke Remix
By Berto Fernández
San Diego’s own Diversionary Theatre continues their commitment to bring groundbreaking and impactful new work to our community. This season, perfectly named “Liberate”, continues with the World Premiere of a kick-ass new rock/punk musical TL;DR: Thelma Louise; Dyke Remix with music and lyrics by EllaRose Chary & Brandon James Gwinn, and directed by Sherri Eden Barber. If you have seen the classic film Thelma & Louise, you surely remember the iconic end scene where they drive off a cliff into the Grand Canyon. Well, this show sparks at the moment when they are mid-air and they discover their own Queer identity. Subsequently, they embark on an odyssey of self-discovery, crashing of the cis-stem, and exploring human relationships.
“Get ready to rock and roll with us as we ignite the stage with the electrifying world premiere of TL;DR: Thelma Louise; Dyke Remix”, expressed Diversionary Theatre’s Executive Director Jenny Case. “This groundbreaking high-energy rock musical embodies the spirit of San Diego and is sure to exhilarate and inspire audiences by celebrating diverse voices and pushing boundaries,” they added.
The cast consists of four band members, the Riot Grrrl Band, who aid our two leads in telling their story and taking us on a wild Queer ride. Recent San Diego Critics’ Circle winner and star of the auto-biographical play Dragon Mama, Sara Porkalob, returns to the Diversionary stage as “L”, joined by San Diego vocalist Sophia Araujo-Johnson as her counterpart “T”. Bicoastal Theatre/TV/Film actor Steph Lehane portrays “Cubby” and plays drums; Lyric Boothe, local Theatre actor and educator, plays “Marie” as they rock the guitar. MG Green, musician and actor, plays “Blazer” and the bass; lastly Faith Carrion, last seen at Diversionary’s hit musical Head Over Heels, will play “Henrietta” and percussion/aux instruments.
“We’re thrilled to bring this unabashedly queer dyke musical to Diversionary, the nation’s 3rd oldest queer theater, ” mentioned co-creators of the show, EllaRose Chary and Brandon James Gwinn. “T, L and the Band go on a quest to find their queer happy ending (whatever that means) and because it’s never been modeled for them, they have to make it up as they go. This mirrors our own experience with the show, we also haven’t had a lot of models for queer happy endings on stage or screen – usually people come out as gay, they kiss, and the lights come up (or, they die, but “not this time!”). After having a great time in San Diego and at Diversionary last year, and spending time in Hillcrest getting to know the local queer community, we’re so excited to be back sharing a full production of this World Premiere musical. We make musicals because we want to share space and spark conversations with audiences, and we can’t think of a better theater or town to do that with TL;DR than San Diego.”
The musical earned the 2021 Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theatre Writing, and will surely steal the hearts of San Diego audiences in this full production. So, head on over to Diversionary for a rockin’ good time and support this hard-working cast of multi-talented artists, starting previews May 9th and running through June 2nd.
TL;DR: Thelma Louise; Dyke Remix is presented by Diversionary Theatre with performances May 9th through June 2nd. Tickets and info: Here