Michael Bobo and his husband Wayne D. Beers — the dynamic duo of W.D. Deli — have been preparing for their crowning moment for years, so to speak. So when the lights go down, the music starts thumping, the curtains go up and an odd assortment of outrageous drag queens, city celebs and other bizarre,…
Ray Chavez Recalls Cornyation Antics Through the Ages
“Ray is the heart and soul of Cornyation … it wouldn’t be here without him.” The house was packed and Cornyation was in full swing. The music was blaring, the stage lights glaring, and a group of actors and dancers were performing in another outlandish skit to thunderous roars, when, suddenly, a dancer took an unscripted nosedive…
On the Chartreuse Couch: Gene Elder interviews Ann Kinser and Michael Mehl
Gene: Ann, Michael have a seat on the sofa. Thanks for joining me and millions of others around the world. Michael, we know you are the spark that ignited the fire for Fotoseptiembre and we should talk about that. And Ann you were a major highlight at Cornyation for several early years, and I know a…
BEAT AIDS banquet theme: ‘It takes a village’
The theme for this year’s BEAT AIDS Coalition Trust’s Annual Awards Banquet, slated for October 16, will be “HIV/AIDS: It Takes A Village.” “Now in existence for over 28 years, BEAT AIDS Coalition Trust continues to expand its programs and services to the community in our aggressive effort to end the spread of HIV/AIDS,” BEAT…
Most Influential 2015: Jesse Mata
Fans (read: short for fanatics) of Fiesta Cornyation, know Jesse Mata as the mercilessly acerbic pen behind the emcees’ script, and the pleasant papa-bear voice that reminds audience members to, “sit back, relax, and return your date to their full, upright position” before the show begins. That’s the icing; he also bakes the Corny cake…
Record Cornyation funds distributed to local AIDS charities
A record $200,000 was award to the San Antonio Aids Foundation (“SAAF”), Black Effort Against the Threat (“BEAT”) AIDS, and four Robert Rehm scholarships thanks to Fiesta Cornyation 2015’s immense success this past April. This year, Cornyation was able to give away $180,000 to local AIDS charities–with $90,000 each going to SAAF and BEAT AIDS. Interim Executive Director…
How Cornyation became the ruling roué of Fiesta
Cornyation was an important part of the democratization of Fiesta. Children fidgeted and adults downed the last of their longneck beers as they waited for the show to begin. The sweeping Arneson River Theatre was in the middle of the Night in Old San Antonio (NIOSA) midway, pushed against the edge of the river. The…
Celebrating Robert Rehm
There is no adequate way to document the contributions that Robert Rehm made to the San Antonio theater community, his former students at Jefferson High School’s Fine Arts Magnet Academy, and Cornyation, where he was a skit designer since the mid ’80s. Except perhaps the scholarship, established in his name, that supports the college education…