Pearle Harbour's Immersive Tent Revival Hits SummerWorks

Pearle Harbour's Chautauqua is a wildly immersive and darkly comic new show by Dora-nominated writer/solo performer Justin Miller, opening August 4, as part of the 2017 SummerWorks Performance Festival.

The Tent is coming, will you be there? You are invited to gather together under the canvas with Pearle Harbour - Toronto's most cerebral drag queen - for a dazzling liturgy of words, music, sociopolitical tirades, and connection. It's like church, but for woke baes! In these troubled times, when the world seems to be falling apart, Pearle will remind you that there's more that unites us than divides us.

DRAG BOMBSHELL - Sweet-as-pie and as sharp-as-nails, Pearle Harbour stands in the high-heeled tradition of such legendary queens as Dame Edna, Bianca Del Rio, and Taylor Mac. Drag's mainstream visibility and popularity has surged recently, but Pearle serves something you can't find on RuPaul's Drag Race: she struts a razor-thin line between theatre and cabaret, tender tragedy and acidic comedy, outrageous camp and sincere vulnerability.

A LITERAL TENT - What's a tent revival without an honest-to-goodness tent? Audiences will be immersed and transported by the centerpiece of Chautauqua's ambitious design (Joseph Pagnan & Haley Reap), and the flaps close, what happens in the Tent stays in the Tent. All are welcome, but only 40 souls can be saved per show.

PEOPLE POWER - Come bear witness to a miracle: audience participation that's actually fun! Chautauqua offers the service of communion, from sing-a-longs to puppet shows to a full-blown exorcism. As directed by Byron Laviolette (of Dora & Canadian Comedy Award winners Morro & Jasp), Pearle empowers her audience to make choices and take risks. Don't worry if you're shy or faint of heart, Pearle will always keep you safe (which is not the same thing as 'comfortable').

http://pearleharbour.com