Lost, Found and Widening Queer Circles

Through a typically random referral, JunkThief came the show Lost and Found in the Mission put on by Mama Calizo's Voice Factory at the Jon Sims Center for Performing Arts and had the pleasure of going to see it this evening.

The co-artistic directors Rowena Richie and Susie Hara seem grounded in the belief that the best search engines are our eyes, feet and hands, and they have mounted a revue of sorts built around found objects discovered in various corners of the Mission District. These range from shopping lists, to letters, to post its, to notes passed in jail, to a single black high heel shoe intended for a male Cindarella. Most of the objects are words written on paper, and aside from a few songs, the bulk of the show is made up of verbatim stagings of these words from anonymous authors. The source materials were on display outside of the performance space, serving as a trailer of sorts for the show before the doors opened.

JunkThief had not been to a production at Jon Sims Center since friend/fellow writer/blogger "Bryce Digdug" of JudyMeat did queer stand up comedy there last fall. At the time, word was out that the center was going into its swan song, but JunkThief was pleased to learn tonight that it is alive and well and embracing the broadest term of "queer theater" which this production healthily embodies with a wide representation of ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, and ages.

As a production, it sometimes was better in execution than concept, and it's not clear if there was ultimate meaning to the intentionally random pieces coming together. But then, isn't that life in this city, and there were moments of brilliance. The cast was great overall, but Carole Landes was especially strong in various roles, most notably reading the letter from some unknown grandmother in Florida writing at the age of 75 in 1989. Her embodiment of this woman who is likely no longer among the living was a real highlight of the offering. It really felt we were being offered some little overlooked gem held up a lost treasure that is just outside of our grasp. Having known a few women who spoke in such cadences, it was touching to hear her bring such dignity to a woman whose words were abandoned somewhere in the 94110 zip code.

Needless to say, for a blogger with the JunkThief moniker, the show resonated frequently, in part because of its striving to bring either meaning or rhythm out of the chaos of our lives, neighborhood and city. It runs through June 9.