Miss Richfield 1981 Goes Bingo Bonanza
In case you were wondering, Miss Richfield 1981 is doing just fine during the pandemic, thank you very much. To keep herself busy, she’s hosting Bingo Bonanza every Thursday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. on Facebook Live.
It’s the ideal remedy for isolation. At the appointed time, go to Miss R’s Facebook page, where you’ll find the app to download a bingo card on your phone while watching the show on your laptop or home computer. Playing is free, and winners receive a personal video from Miss Richfield herself, as well as a chance to be in the live audience. With about a thousand players joining in each episode from all over the world, you’ll be in good company.
Like everyone else, Miss Richfield is adjusting to the work-at-home mentality. “I’m sure, to the untrained eye, it looks like an expensive studio, but I’m actually broadcasting from my kitchen counter on my Apple IIe,” she tells the Independent via email. Sometimes, her cat, Louis, a celebrity in his own right, makes a coveted appearance.
Social distancing has been a cinch for Miss R. “Fortunately, I’m used to people standing back from me, so it hasn’t been a huge change,” she says. “But just to ensure that nobody gets too close, I’ve been keeping a freshly diced onion in my handbag and soaking my pantyhose in garlic sauce each night. I get a little teary-eyed from time to time, but people are moving out of the way.”
She denies all accusations of hoarding. “Since I do all my grocery shopping on my scooter,” she says, “I can’t carry more than a dozen doughnuts, a large Sanka, and a four-pack of toilet paper.”
Drag queens need to be present during the crisis, Miss Richfield says: “It’s our job to look fabulous and make a scene, so you look at us instead of focusing on your problems. It’s what we do best!” —Saskia Maxwell Keller
Provincetown Theater’s Sweet Streams
The stage may be closed, but performances continue virtually at the Provincetown Theater, which is programming online events through the end of May. The fare is free (though donations are more than welcome) at provincetowntheater.org/virtual-programming/.
From Thursday, April 23, through Sunday, April 26, catch the theater’s 2018 production of Kaufman and Hart’s hilarious You Can’t Take It With You, directed by David Drake, the company’s artistic director, with an interactive “community conversation” to follow on Tuesday, April 28, at 4 p.m.
Two more productions, streaming May 7-10 and May 21-24, with community conversations the following Tuesday at 4 p.m., are still to be announced. An earlier booking of August: Osage County has been put on hold.
Finally, if you enjoyed the virtual Mosquito Story Slam on April 11, get ready for another, on May 2 or 9, time and theme pending.
Local Cinemas Offer Virtual Movies
The coronavirus crisis has crippled art-house movie theaters, and one band-aid solution that Provincetown’s Waters Edge Cinema has come up with is offering movies virtually, online.
This might seem strange, considering the selection of movies already available to stream online from services far and wide (for a fee, mostly), but we suggest keeping your payments local, so Outer Cape venues reap the benefit. When you watch Waters Edge’s Virtual Cinema (go to watersedgecinema.org), you’ll help keep the brick-and-mortar theater alive.
Among the films offered by Waters Edge are the joyful feature documentaries The Woman Who Loves Giraffes, about a feminist zoologist, and The Dog Doc, about an empathetic vet. Each is $12 per rental. Two new titles will be added Friday. An omnibus of shorts, Best of CatVideoFest, is available (“pay what you can”) at Waters Edge and also at the Cape Cinema in Dennis.
Finally, Wellfleet Preservation Hall is offering the documentary Beyond the Visible: Hilda af Klint, about a woman considered to be the first abstract artist. It’s available to stream at wellfleetpreservationhall.org for $12 from Friday, April 17, to Thursday, May 1.
