The board of directors of Fiesta Cornyation announced today that for the second year in a row they raised a record-breaking $200,000 which they will distribute to local charities and college students on June 12. Celebrating its 50th anniversary, Fiesta Cornyation raises funds through ticket sales for six shows performed at the Charlene McCombs Empire…
All About That Dress: A History of Cornyation Fashion
For the last three years, I’ve been working on a book about the history of our most beloved Fiesta event, Cornyation. I’m pleased to report that the book will be published in March 2017 by Trinity University Press, and it will include more than 100 pictures of Cornyation over the years. Over the course of…
Hot Glue & Duct Tape: John McBurney’s Rasquache Aesthetic
“We had the courage and the tenacity to be flamboyant and to be ourselves.” “I’m an old showgirl,” John McBurney says, as he shows me a faded photo of himself in partial drag backstage at Cornyation in 1998. McBurney is 61. “I am 6’ 4’’ and almost 300 pounds. I have to be very couture.…
Gay Royalty Rules Cornyation’s Court of Our Mad, Mad, Mad World
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…
2015 in Review: A year in the life of LGBT SA
A select month-by-month recap of stories about our community reported here and elsewhere in 2015. JANUARY Cornyation’s Robert Rehm dies 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…
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…
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…
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…