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Mink Stole is mother.
Or, she has been in several of the films she appears in as a principal member of John Waters’ Dreamlanders troupe of actors, and one of only three to appear in all of his movies. Stole flexes considerable emotional range whenever she’s on screen, from Desperate Living’s unhinged, high-strung suburbanite Peggy Gravel to Serial Mom’s mousy, tormented Dottie Hinkle, who somehow makes you think she really never uses bad language. When she does step outside the Watersverse, Stole’s screen roles cast her as the gay icon she is, in roles that the uninitiated might miss out on, like her role as Natasha Lyonne’s mom in But I’m a Cheerleader!
Stole returns to Portland in this capacity on Sunday, Aug. 4, at the Clinton Street Theater for the cabaret Q&A Idol Worship alongside San Francisco drag legend Peaches Christ. Carla Rossi, drag superstar of the 2024 Venice Biennale, introduces Stole and Christ in what likely will be a whole show unto itself. Rossi announced on July 30 through social media that extra tickets for the previously sold-out Idol Worship had been released.
“Peaches is a longtime friend of Queer Horror, as well as our first-ever special guest from our presentation of All About Evil with her in 2022,” Rossi says of co-presenting Idol Worship with her own film screening series, Queer Horror. “She’s also the inspiration for Queer Horror itself, thanks to her work with the legendary Midnight Mass in San Francisco.”
Stole last appeared in Portland over a decade ago, attending the Hollywood Theatre’s premiere screening of the 2013 documentary I Am Divine about her late co-star Glenn Milstead, also known as Divine, one of the world’s most famous drag queens. This time around, Stole and Christ—drag mother of Jinkx Monsoon, best known for her Midnight Mass screening series and podcast, and touring movie parody drag shows often casting RuPaul’s Drag Race alumni—will pull stories from their respective careers and 20-plus years of friendship and discuss their 2010 comedic horror film All About Evil (which reunited Stole and Lyonne). There are even scheduled breaks for jokes and live songs.
“Getting to introduce Mink Stole—the Meryl Streep of trash—and Peaches Christ—the Bergdorf Goodman to Carla Rossi’s Dollar Tree—feels like a fleeting brush with heroes whose legacies I seek to honor every day I go to work,” Rossi says.
SEE IT: Idol Worship: An Evening with Mink Stole and Peaches Christ at Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton St., 9791-808-3331, cstpdx.com. 6 pm Sunday, Aug. 4. $40–$75.