Pride Celebration at the Senate: Multiple Maniacs (1970)  

Sat. Jun. 27 

Doors – 7:00 PM  

Drag show – 7:00 PM 

Organ Overture – 7:30 PM  

Film – 8:00 PM  

Tickets – $6 (Bundle with The Cockettes – $10) 

1hr 36min | NR | Comedy | USA 

Drag queen Sirinity Sapphire will perform! 

Presented with the Motor City Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and Larry the T-Shirt Guy 

Come to the Senate for an evening of pride, featuring two divine movies celebrating outsider performance! This event kicks off our annual summer series of cult and B-movies we call Hot, Sweaty & Weird. But this first show is going to be Hot, Sweaty & Queer!    

The second film for the night, following the documentary The Cockettes about the theater troupe of the same name, is director John Waters’ second feature Multiple Maniacs!  

Starring the incomparable drag legend Divine, (a sometime member and friend of The Cockettes) this is the first real “talkie” from the Pope of Trash. It tells the story of a violent troupe of travelling side show performers, intent on revolting their audiences before robbing them blind. With giddy defiance it disgusts and wallows in its ugliness, proving itself an unruly, unholy, unapologetic pillar of camp.  

Don’t miss your chance to see this important piece of underground independent cinema, described by critics as “smelly,” “thoroughly disgusting” and “also quite funny!” It’s for outsider weirdos, tacky deviants, and lovers of all things trashy. It is for anybody willing to peer past the straight edges of society into the “maniac” fringes. Don’t worry. It’s a good time out there.  

And it’s a good time at the Senate too. See you there! 

From our partner organization: 

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are a leading-edge Order of queer and trans nuns. We believe all people have a right to express their unique joy and beauty. 

Since our first appearance in San Francisco on Easter Sunday, 1979, the Sisters have devoted ourselves to community service, ministry and outreach to those on the edges, and to promoting human rights, respect for diversity and spiritual enlightenment. We use humor and irreverent wit to expose the forces of bigotry, complacency, and guilt that chain the human spirit. 

The Cockettes, a San Francisco-based psychedelic performance troupe active from 1969 to 1972, paved the way for the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (founded in 1979) by establishing a foundation of "gender-fuck" drag, queer communal living, and unapologetic public spectacle that utilized satire for social critique. The Cockettes' influence directly informed the aesthetic, theatrical, and counter-cultural approach that the Sisters would later adapt to tackle political issues and community service. 

Parking is available in our gated lot, on Gilbert, and Michigan Avenue