Sing-along Summer Series
The Bearded Ladies Cabaret
July 9 - August 6, 2025
Presented by The Bearded Ladies Cabaret in association with FringeArts
Directed by Eric Jaffe
Join the Bearded Ladies for a series of sing-along shows promoting healing, resistAHHHHnce, and coming together through the power of—oh fuck it, we just want to sing. Set your escapism and denial to music with rousing group renditions of songs that have nothing to do with fascism led by The Bearded Ladies Cabaret, whose work has been hailed by Fox News as “government waste.” Sing-along or scream on pitch or just scream!
By the time this 75 minute show is over you will have survived another 75 minutes.
July Sing-Along
Wednesday, July 9 at 7pm
UGH!!! An Evening of Sing-along and Never-ending Ahhhhhhs!!!
Hosted by Jess Conda (@jconfive) and Cookie Diorio (@cookiediorio)
About The Hosts
Jess Conda is a performer, producer, teaching artist and cultural connector currently living on the unceded Lenni Lenape land known as Philadelphia. From 2003-2013, Jess performed with BRAT Productions, a former non profit theater company known for their influence on Philadelphia’s early “Fringe” performance scene. From 2013-2017, she worked as Artistic Director, serving a mission to produce original rock-theater performance while providing creative opportunities for emerging Philadelphia artists.
Jess is currently working as both a performance artist and as Director of Education and Community Practice at The Wilma Theater, the 2024 Tony Award winner for Outstanding Regional Theater. She is an Associate Artist with the Bearded Ladies Cabaret. With the Beards, Jess co-hosted the Late Night Snacks series 2019-present as part of their Hosting Cohort. Jess was co-host and chanteuse for Peek a Boo Revue from 2013-2020 and teaches acting at the Philadelphia Burlesque Academy. Recent Guest Vocalist appearances: Philadelphia Orchestra’s PRIDE concert, OURfest, Martha Graham Cracker 20th Anniversary. Training: BFA, Arcadia University, Certificate, Pig Iron Theater Company’s Advanced Performance Training Program.
Cookie Diorio is a Philadelphia-based drag performer, a classically trained vocalist, a songwriter, an activist, a husband, music teacher and lover of all things sparkly. She mastered walking in 5 inch stilettos in the night clubs of Boston, achieved her hair fantasy by studying vintage videos of Grace Bumbry and founded the giving project Art of the Heel. Cookie grew up in historic Auburn, NY with gospel in her ears, civil rights in her blood and many songs in her heart.
She trained at Ithaca College in the voice studio of Angus Godwin and learned the many different skills of western classical music from master teachers such as Carol McAmis in vocal pedagogy, Lawrence Doebler in choral arts, Dana Wilson in composition and Patrick Hansen in opera coaching. While Cookie has been in and out of the drag scene since 2002, she began performing regularly in the Philadelphia area as host of the Art Song Repertory Theater Company’s salon series “Saturday Afternoon Drinking Songs” in 2013. Since, she has produced the shows Fire In My Bones: A Gospel Jubilee, Beauty From Our Sorrows, Telling Herstories, Forces of Nature, Music: The Food of Love and I, Too, Sing America. She has also been a soloist for events, galas, concerts and on the cabaret stage.
August Sing-Along
Wednesday, August 6 at 7pm
WHHYYY??? An Evening of Sing-along and Overdue Processing
Hosted by Sam Rise (@samantharise)
About The Hosts
Samantha Rise (they/them) is a black, gender-expansive performer, teaching artist, activist and human-amplifier. Samantha’s music is a trans-genre practice, inextricably bound to legacies of radical black feminist leadership, and liberatory imagination, drawing on a wide root system of jazz, folk, country and avant-garde.
Venue
FringeArts
140 N. Columbus Blvd.
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Pricing
Pay What You Decide: FREE–$40
$50 Table Seating
Content Considerations
This event is not oriented towards children however, they are welcome to join! Expect PG-13 content (suggestive and/or strong language, themes of political anxiety and existential dread). Singing-along will be optional but plentiful.
The Bearded Ladies Cabaret
About
The Bearded Ladies Cabaret is a queer arts organization that sits on your lap and sings you a story. Whether it’s an opera, a home-made cabaret, a musical walking tour, or a show on a truck, we employ song, spectacle, storytelling, and heart to welcome audiences into moments of joy, healing, and subversion. Through sharing our original pieces and creating bespoke platforms for performance at home in Philadelphia, nationally, and abroad, we nurture artistic connection for a community of misfits, rabble-rousers, chanteuses and the people who love and need them. Their work has been seen all over Philadelphia including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Eastern State Penitentiary, Opera Philadelphia, the Wilma Theater, FringeArts, and the Delaware River Waterfront and they have brought their cabaret revolution to Miami, Seattle, Paris, Washington DC, New Zealand, Provincetown, Maryland and Delaware. In New York their work has been seen at Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater, La MaMa Etc, Works & Process at the Guggenheim and Lincoln Center. Their signature programs The Beardmobile and LATE NIGHT SNACKS together have provided a stage for over 500 queer and nightlife artists. Find the Beards at www.beardedladiescabaret.com or on Facebook/Instagram @beardedladiescabaret.
For questions, additional materials, or to schedule an interview please reach out to Bearded Ladies’ Marketing Manager Elena Faverio (they/them): marketing@beardedladiescabaret.com
About The Show Director
Eric Jaffe (she/they) is a genderfull glamour monster and the mother of the legendary Haus of Jaffe. She is the recipient of the 2018 Philly Drag Awards, Best Host, Best Alternative Drag Queen, Drag Queen of the Year as well as 2020’s Performer of the Year and Best of Philly recipient 2023. Currently you can find Eric as the resident host at Fabrika, hosting My Big Gay Jewish Drag Show, as well as co-producing the Philadelphia nightlife competition series Snatcherella 3000. As a bearded lady herself, Eric has been thrilled to work with the Bearded Ladies Cabaret since 2019. For more on Eric Jaffe follow her on all social platforms @theericjaffe
Credits
Creative Team
Director: Eric Jaffe
Production Manager: Taylor Jedlinski
Producer: Carlos Diaz Stoop
Associate Producer: Wi-Moto Nyoka
Music Director: Heath Allen
Band Members
Keys: Heath Allen
Drums: Matthew Jernigan
Bass: Josh Machiz
Bearded Ladies Staff
John Jarboe (she/her) Founder and Artistic Director
Sally Ollove (she/her) Associate Artistic Director
Wesley Flash (he/him) Managing Director
Elena Faverio (they/them) Marketing Manager
Taylor Jedlinski (she/her) Production Manager
Carlos Diaz Stoop (he/him) Staff Producer
Nic Bampbelldie (they/them) Beards Administrator
Health & Accessibility
This is a Mask Optional event. Audience members are encouraged to test beforehand, and stay home if they have symptoms.
For more information on accessibility at FringeArts, please visit: https://fringearts.com/accessibility/
Partnerships
Co-presented with FringeArts
Funding for the Bearded Ladies Cabaret is provided by The Mellon Foundation, the William Penn Foundation, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, the Knight Foundation, the Lida Foundation, the Philadelphia Foundation, the Wyncote Foundation, and Barbara Teichert.
Be Part of the Story
Help FringeArts present world-class, contemporary performing arts that challenge convention and inspire new ways of thinking.