THE GOLDEN GIRLS: THE CHRISTMAS EPISODES to Return to The Victoria Theatre for the Holidays

The Golden Girls: The Christmas Episodes will play The Victoria Theatre from December 1-23, 2016.

When the night air brings a chill, when at the mall we hear songs about Grandma Getting Run Over By A Reindeer, when SUV's sport wreaths on their front grills, and when the Xmas sweaters are taken out of mothballs, it can only mean one thing. It's time for the annual appearance of The Golden Girls: The Christmas Episodes 2016.

Performance Dates are Dec. 1 - 23, 2016. Opening Night Thurs. Dec. 1 - 8:00 pm. Shows run Thurs. Fri. & Sat. - 8:00 pm / Sun. - 7:00 pm. 15 shows total. Xmas Bonus! 3 added shows Dec. 21, 22, 23 - (Wed., Thurs. & Fri.) Performance dates are: Dec. 1, 2, 3, 4 / 8, 9, 10, 11 / 15, 16, 17, 18 / 21, 22, 23, 2016. Shows are at The Victoria Theatre, 2961 16th St. (btwn. Mission & Capp Sts.) SF, CA 94103. Tix $30 available at www.goldengirlssf.com.

Now a full-fledged, eagerly-awaited San Francisco holiday tradition - like the Nutcracker
- only with better costumes and with more hilarity on stage than should be allowed, This loving send up returns - featuring San Francisco's leading drag comic performers, as they ring in the holiday with laughter, good clean fun and more Christmas Sweaters than have ever appeared on one stage in the history of the American Theatre.

Take 4 talented drag performers, cast them in two new Xmas episodes of the uproariously funny TV show: THE GOLDEN GIRLS, and you have an assured night of theatre for the entire family. The four drag stars playing the characters the entire world has come to know and love are Heklina (Dorothy), Matthew Martin (Blanche), D'Arcy Drollinger (Rose), and Holotta Tymes (Sophia). Manuel Caneri and Tom Shaw are also featured in the cast.

The Golden Girls: The Christmas Episodes 2016 is directed by Matthew Martin. Costumes by Daffney D'Luxe.

All ticketholders that purchase tickets for any show of The Golden Girls: The Christmas Episodes 2016 are offered free admission to Heklina's Saturday nightclub MOTHER at Oasis
(298 Eleventh St. SF 94103). 3 Sat. dates include Dec, 4, 10, 17, 2016. Oasis is run by Heklina and D'Arcy Drollinger has been voted Best New Nightclub by the Bay Area Reporter and SF Weekly. Doors 10:00 pm. Link for all MOTHER shows: www.sfoasis.com/mother.

There will be a different celebrity guest each night for the first 3 perfs. - Dec. 1 - 3, 2016:

Thurs. Dec. 1, 2016 - 8:00 pm Jan Wahl - KRON TV 4 Film Critic / KCBS Radio

Fri. Dec. 2, 2016 - 8:00 pm Fernando & Greg - Radio Hosts - Morning Show 99.7 Now

Sat. Dec. 3, 2016 - 8:00 pm Liam Mayclem - TV Personality KPIX

For Golden Girls fanatics and aficionados, the two new episodes being presented are:

Episode 1 - "WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DATE MAKES"

The man who stood Dorothy up for her senior prom contacts her and they make a date for the Christmas dance. After learning why he stood her up, Dorothy unleashes her wrath on the person at fault, Sophia. Meanwhile, Blanche goes on a diet in order to keep with her tradition of annually fitting into her wedding dress. (Originally written by Susan Harris, Marc Cherry & Jamie Wooten) (Actor Hal Linden starred as Dorothy's love interest.)

Episode 2 - "GIRLS JUST WANNA TO HAVE FUN...BEFORE THEY DIE"

It's the Holiday Season and both Sophia and Rose take advice from Blanche that lands each of them in hot water. Due to an unseasonal drought in St. Olaf, Rose swears to be celibate and Blanche advises her not to tell Miles the truth. While Sophia takes Blanche's tips to lure a man to bed but when she tells him she loves him, he doesn't respond with what she hoped. (Originally written by Susan Harris, Gail Parent & James Valley) (Actor Cesar Romero starred as Tony (Sofia's love interest.)

SPECIAL EVENTS:

Opening Night Benefit info:

Opening night of The Golden Girls: The Christmas Episodes 2016 -Thurs. 12/1/16 -8:00 pm is a benefit for Healing Waters Wilderness Adventures (HWWA). For each ticket sold for opening night Thurs. 12/1/16, a $5.00 donation will be made to HWWA

Healing Waters Wilderness Adventures mission is to empower, inspire and enrich the lives of people challenging aids through wilderness adventures. Our primary focus is on whitewater rafting trips, sea kayaking expeditions stand up paddleboard trips and camping trips. Living with an illness can be very emotionally and physically draining. The psychological toll itself is huge. Healing Waters Wilderness Adventures exists to help its participants step outside from all of that, if only for a short time. We offer incredibly fun weekend and weekday trips open to people with HIV and AIDS.

Our participant trips have been designed specifically with the special needs of individuals living with HIV/AIDS in mind. For low fees, we are able to provide transportation, insurance, accommodation (tents, sleeping bags and pads), equipment, instruction, and any warm clothing you may need including rain jackets, wool socks, and much more. The meals we provide are specially designed to be high in protein and nutritionally balanced as well. We also welcome caregivers and partners on our trips regardless of their HIV status, for the same low price. Visit www.hwaters.org/what-we-do.

Opening night Dec. 1, 2016 is also World AIDS Day. World AIDS Day is held on Dec. 1st each year and is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, show their support for people living with HIV and to commemorate people who have died. World AIDS Day was the first-ever global health day, held for the first time in 1988. Visit www.worldaidsday.org.

In addition, to make opening night Thurs. 12/1/16 more festive, we are inviting audience members to attend the show wearing an exquisite or hideous XMAS SWEATER.

NEW FOR DEC. 2016 - Humphry Slocombe - San Francisco's Award-Winning Ice Cream purveyor creates a limited-edition ice cream flavor to celebrate The Golden Girls: The Christmas Episodes 2016. Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake (dark chocolate cheesecake ice cream with amarena cherries & house-made graham crackers) will be available at both Humphry Slocombe locations Dec. 1 - 31, 2016 (2790 Harrison St. and 1 Ferry Building, SF). A few Lucky opening-night patrons will win free Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake Ice Cream coupons!

"Being asked to do an ice cream for Golden Girls was a thrill and making it a cheesecake ice cream seemed like a prerequisite (duh) And just to make the holidays a little more "gayer" we made it a chocolate cherry cheesecake ice cream." - Owners Humphry Slocombe.

Cast Members from The Golden Girls: The Christmas Episodes 2016 will be making personal appearances during Dec. 2016. Dates and store locations to be announced!

The Golden Girls: Live on stage in SF started performances in 2006 in the front parlor of a Victorian Mansion in the Western Addition. The shows quickly became more and more popular with the shows being performed twice annually - for a month every June and for a month each December. As The Golden Girls became more popular, they moved to larger quarters of sold out-runs at Mama Calizo's Voice Factory and then to CounterPULSE. In 2011 the show moved to the 500-seat Victoria Theatre where it will play for a longer run - 15 performances only.
For the past 4 years all 12 shows have sold out.

The Golden Girls TV shows (which began airing 30 years ago) is an American sitcom, created by Susan Harris, that originally aired on NBC from Sept. 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. It starred veteran TV actors Beatrice Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty. The Golden Girls received critical acclaim throughout most of its run and won several awards, including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series twice. It also won three Golden Globe Awards for Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy. Each of the 4 stars received an Emmy Award (from multiple nominations during the series' run), making it one of only 3 sitcoms in the award's history to achieve this. The series also ranked among the 10 ten highest-rated programs for 6 out of its 7 seasons. In 2014, the Writers Guild Of America placed the sitcom at No. 69 in their list of the "101 Best Written TV Series Of All Time".

ABOUT THE CAST:

Heklina gained fame as the creator, promoter, and hostess of the legendary Trannyshack! She is a premier hostess and DJ for hire around San Francisco and, in addition to Trannyshack, has enjoyed success with her outdoor party at El Rio (with DJ Carnita and Stanley Frank), Daytime Realness. She has been seen on the E! Entertainment Network, NBC's"Trauma" "The Cho Show", VH1, "Playing it Straight", Comedy Central's "The Daily Show", BBC Television's "Around the World in 80 Raves", the Scissor Sister's "Filthy Gorgeous" video, and as a guest on the Jerry Springer and Ricki Lake shows. In 2011, Heklina introduced Britney Spears for Good Morning America. Her film credits include the festival favorites Baby Jane? and All About Evil. Theater credits include a starring role in the 2006 Theater Rhino production TROG!, producer and featured actor (in the role of Dorothy Zbornak) in the popular San Francisco Golden Girls plays, and producer and featured actor in Velvet Rage Productions (Sex And The City Live!, Roseanne, Friends Live!). She was voted Community Grand Marshal of the 2004 San Francisco GLBTQ Pride Parade, and was the subject of two documentaries in the 2005 Frameline SF Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. In 2009 she won the Pride Creativity Award for outstanding artistic contribution to the LGBT Community. She is thrilled to be part of a new chapter in SF nightlife, with the opening of the new venue Oasis and the launch of her new weekly show, Mother.

Matthew Martin (Blanche), a native San Franciscan, has been conjuring Bette Davis for many years in SF, NYC LA, and London stage productions including Awe About Eve, Hush Up, Sweet Charlotte, Whatever Happened to B.B. Jane?, and The Star. He starred in the film parodies Hush Up, Sweet Charlotte and Baby Jane?, which premiered in SF's Frameline Film Festival and was also recently featured in the documentary Queer Icon: The Cult of Bette Davis. He has starred in countless stage productions in SF including Theatre Rhino and multiple productions in town. MM wowed audiences in D'Arcy Drollinger's productions of Disastrous, Shit & Champagne, and Champagne White and the Temple of Poon. An actor, singer, dancer, director, choreographer and man of many faces and voices, Matthew has also incarnated Joan Crawford in a stage parody of her last film Trog, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Garland, Ann Miller, Jane Russell, Susan Hayward, Peggy Lee, Eartha Kitt, Mitzi Gaynor and many other stars of the Silver Screen. MM Has also appeared at many Marc Huestis' extravaganzas at the Castro Theater. As Blanche Devereaux, he has loved of working with his good friends in The Golden Girls since 2007.

D'Arcy Drollinger (Rose) is an actor, writer, director, choreographer, producer, entrepreneur and showgirl. Drollinger's original works include: Disastrous, The Temple of Poon, Shit & Champagne, Mr. Irresistible, Project: Lohan, Scalpel!, The Possession of Mrs. Jones, Pink Elephants, Above and Beyond the Valley of the Ultra Showgirls, Suburbia 3000 and The Cereal Killers. D'Arcy is the co-owner of OASIS, voted San Francisco's best nightclub / cabaret. Other credits include: The Producers (first Broadway production), Hairspray the Musical (first Broadway production). D'Arcy continues to produce, direct and star in the long-running hit stage adaptation of Sex and the City Live. Other parodies in Drollinger's "Live" series include, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek, Three's Company & Facts of Life. D'Arcy is the creator of Sexitude, the body-positive, age-positive, sex-positive dance experience based in San Francisco. www.sexitude.com

Holotta Tymes (Sophia) is a female impersonator who was born in Michigan, but relocated to the Bay Area permanently at the age of five. She grew-up performing in local and touring musical theater companies. She started doing voice work for animated cartoons and commercials at very young age. She always enjoyed making people laugh by taking on a character. In her teens she wrote an all-male comedy version of Romeo and Juliet called "Me and Juliet." She toured the show for many years, playing the title role... of Juliet. She began performing at the legendary North Beach cabaret club Finocchio's in the early 90's until it closed at the end of 1999. Holotta describes herself as a female impersonator doing drag. She has crisscrossed the country, performed with some of the best in the industry, and wowed audiences during a career that has spanned 25 years and counting.

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