Martha Graham Cracker Headlines Pig Iron Benefit on Friday

Martha Graham Cracker at a Pig Iron Theatre Company benefit cabaret and auction. Photo provided

The annual benefit bash for the always-inventive Pig Iron Theatre Company is happening this Friday, January 27th, at the Trocadero. This year the theme is a Western-y “This Town Ain’t Pig Enough for the Both of Us.” Drag queen Martha Graham Cracker, also known as Pig Iron co-founder Dito van Reigersberg, will headline the evening, with Quinn Bauriedel, the company’s co-artistic director, playing host.

Doors open at 7 p.m. and you’ll definitely want to get there before the cabaret starts at 8 p.m. to peruse the silent auction. Items up for bid include several dinner-and-a-show packages (including one from the Arden that has you eating at Zahav), museum passes, hotel stays, yoga classes, tattoo gift certificates, a Philadelphia School of Circus Arts lesson, walking tours, concert tickets, and a trip to Austin, Texas, complete with plane tickets, meals and an invite to the literary-star–studded Texas Book Festival authors party. Or go for item No. 163, “Martha’s Secrets,” in which Pig Iron’s other co-artistic director, Dan Rothenberg, will sit next to you during a Martha Graham Cracker performance and “whisper into your ear what Martha is thinking.”

When the “This Town Ain’t Pig Enough for the Both of Us” show portion kicks off, you’ll be watching Alexandra Tatarsky, the Almanac Dance Circus Theatre, Cynthia Hopkins, Headlong and Amy Pickard, Jenson Titus Lavallee, an excerpt from Alex Bechtel’s musical The West, Luna the Contortionist, Chickabiddy, yo-yo champion Tyler Severance, and The Monkey Man and his monkey, Django.

Tickets are $30, or $25 if you’re a student or under 25. You can also spring for a premium seat, $100, or be a VIP for $200.

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