The 2012 Rhino Benefit Extravaganza

Monday, March 26th at 8 pm - One Show Only!
Eureka Theatre
215 Jackson Street Map It

Starring the Very Best in Queer Talent

Musical Director, Dave Dobrusky
Host, John Fisher
With Tom Orr

Raffle and Silent Auction, too!

Tickets include show, food, and drink

Press inquiries: (415) 552-4100 or via email

We're 34 and Still at Play!

Dear Theatre Rhinoceros Supporter:

This year we’re thirty-four and still at play thanks to you. With your generous donations last year we achieved a record year of donor support! Thank you! In these challenging economic times we still need your help. Please keep the Rhino at play with a generous donation this year.

In 2011 The Rhino played quite a lot! We presented the runaway hit musical Stephen Sondheim’s Marry Me a Little in a landmark all-male production, the World Premiere of our play about queers in the military Fighting Mac!, two scintillating nights of comedy with Suzanne Westenhoefer, and the return engagement of our José Sarria tribute SexRev! On New Year’s Eve we sang in the New Year with the incomparable Lea DeLaria at the Victoria for our annual New Year’s Eve Spectacular.

The new year itself brings Tennessee Williams’ The Two-Character Play, another evening of comedy and song with the Benefit Extravaganza, and finally the San Franicsco Premiere of the heart-breaking 100 Saints You Should Know. Whatever we produce, we continue our dedication to quality, professional theatre on gay and lesbian themes with an emphasis always on entertainment.

All Theatre Rhinoceros donors are invited to special open rehearsals of our shows and donors of $1,000 or more will be recognized as “Honorary Producers” of a show of their choice. All donations are tax deductable and are acknowledged in our programs, unless otherwise requested.

Please contact me directly for further donor benefits.

Please donate:

• online at this link
• download Donor Form and mail your donation to our office

Press Information

Bronstein At Large's Comments

Leah Garchik Covers Us
(search for "Rhinoceros" in the column)

Our secession is in Variety

Best Theatrical Act of Political Defiance

The debacle surrounding Proposition 8 — the state's Constitutional ban on same-sex marriage — particularly outraged the local performing arts community, many of whose members are gay.

After the election, Theatre Rhino, America's longest-running queer theater company, declared itself "an extraterritorial state that recognizes, encourages, and condones same-sex marriage."

According to the company's artistic director, John Fisher, Theatre Rhino decided to symbolically secede from the Golden State "to create a safe/legal space for Married Same-Sex couples in the State of California."

The company marked the decision with a special secession ceremony at its base in the heart of the Mission on November 21, following a performance of the show One Hundred Years of Queer Theatre.

Fisher later conceded that the whole thing was a publicity stunt, but not for the theater. "It's a publicity stunt for same-sex marriage," he said.

— SF Weekly
More at SF Weekly.com

Proclamation:

For thirty-one years our Mainstage has been a space of hallowed ground for Same-sex couples and it cannot continue as such if it does not recognize Same-sex Marriage.

In recognition of the thousands of queer lives portrayed on our stage and the thousands upon thousands of queer people who have inspired, witnessed and been inspired by those lives, our Mainstage must secede from the State of California.

The Board of Theatre Rhinoceros and I therefore declare our Mainstage seceded ground and proclaim our theatre an extraterritorial state that recognizes, encourages and condones Same-sex marriage.

A “plaque of secession and proclamation” will be unveiled on Friday, November 21, 2008 at 10 pm, immediately following the performance of 100 Years of Queer Theatre.

Come and raise a glass in recognition of this event and the eventual triumph of same-sex marriage over the forces of repression, exclusion and intolerance. Admission is free and open to the public.

— John Fisher

Foundations Supporting Theatre Rhinoceros

Theatre Rhinoceros is funded by the generosity of the following organizations:

San Francisco Grants for the Arts

The The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

The San Francisco Art Commission

The Dramatists Guild

The Zellerbach Family Foundation

The James Hormel Foundation

The Horizons Foundation

The Bob Ross Foundation

The Walmart Foundation