The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot

The Tenderloin Museum is proud to announce the reopening of The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, an original, interactive theater piece directly inspired by the historic riot for Transgender rights. The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot is an integral piece of the Tenderloin’s identity, and this play offers a singular opportunity for audiences to celebrate the individuals whose tenacious spirit spawned a movement against the long history of discrimination and violence. Attendees will convene for a late night breakfast at our Larkin Street Cafe (a surrogate for the long-gone Compton’s on Turk and Taylor), where a 12 person cast will recreate the neighborhood’s seminal act of resistance and immerse the audience in the tribulations of a marginalized community striving for survival and recognition. In the summer of 1966, a trans woman and patron of the Tenderloin’s Compton’s Cafeteria threw her cup of hot coffee in the face of a police officer as he made an unwarranted attempted to arrest her. The riot that followed would come to be known as the United States’ first recorded act of militant queer resistance to social oppression and police harassment. Three years before the famous gay riot at New York’s Stonewall Inn, the neighborhood’s trans women and allies banded together to fight back against their ongoing discrimination, beating the cops with their high heels and throwing furniture through the cafeteria windows. While the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot has immense significance for the LGBTQ+ community at large, it was also a defining moment for the Tenderloin. As such, Compton’s figures prominently in the Tenderloin Museum’s permanent exhibition. Special thanks is due to Susan Stryker and Victor Silverman, whose diligently researched, Emmy Award-winning documentary Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria saved Compton’s from historical obscurity. CONTENT WARNING: As we bring this work to life, we acknowledge the discomfort and pain that may be triggered by some of the content, and we approach these subjects with the utmost care and responsibility. It is our belief that confronting these difficult realities is vital in understanding the experiences of marginalized communities and the long-lasting effects of societal harm. However, we also recognize that the language and the experiences of our characters reflect a time and context that may be distressing, and we want to make sure you feel equipped to engage with it thoughtfully. Please take care of yourself and step away if needed. We are creating work that seeks to re-examine old wounds and not create new ones. Please feel free to reach out to us with thoughts and concerns at comptonscafeteriariot@gmail.com. - Ezra Reaves, Director, Compton’s Cafeteria Riot The following warnings are intended to prepare you for some of the challenging content within the play: Genital-based transphobia and transmisogyny Transphobic and transmisogynistic microaggressions Images of bruised/battered faces Racist language Explicit description of sexual assault(s) Off-stage trans bashing On-stage police officer(s) bullying queers On-stage choking of a trans woman by a police officer Outing of trans people Disparaging language toward sex work