Tropic Thunder

Gay-themed parades, film festivals, and men’s choirs are nice and important, but for LGBTQ audiences who prefer entertainment that’s a little less polite and a little more provocative and confrontational, FUNDarte’s Out in the Tropics Festival has been cutting edges for the past four years. The fest returns this weekend with seven events featuring countercultural superstars from Cuba and New York. It kicks off at Thursday at 7 p.m. with an artists’ reception and bilingual panel discussion with most of the performers at the Miami Beach LGBT Visitor Center (1300 Washington Ave., Miami Beach). At 8:30 p.m. Friday, the Colony Theatre (1040 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach) will host El Ciervo Encantado, a Cuban lesbian feminist theater collective that, for once, doesn’t have to worry about being thrown in jail for its controversial material. They’ll be followed by flamboyant male diva Taylor Mac, who will perform an abridged version of his pending 24-hour celebration of popular music. At 8:30 p.m. Saturday, outrageous performance artist Carmelita Tropicana will join fellow Cuban-American filmmaker Ela Troyano for a live performance/video hybrid called Post Plastica at the Colony, which closes the festival at 8 p.m. Sunday with the hilariously named all-male string quartet Well Strung, whose repertoire ranges from Mozart to Adele.
June 13-16, 2013