MAJOR! documents the life of Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a formerly incarcerated transgender woman and Stonewall Rebellion veteran. The documentary examines Griffin-Gracy’s experiences in men’s prisons, as well as community activism and sex work. This screening of MAJOR! at The Pinhook in downtown Durham is a fundraiser for Comfrey Films, a Durham-based Afrofuturistic filmmakers’ organization dedicated to bringing more Black and transgender stories to the screen. After watching Griffin-Gracy tell her story on screen, film buffs are invited to dance at a Pride afterparty.
The showing is hosted by Sanctuary Embodied, an organization offering somatic workshops, leadership training, and other programming. The film begins at 8 p.m. and dancing at 10 p.m. Tickets are $5-20 in donations. —Eva Flowe
Moog Fest may be gone, but its spirit lives on in BOOM Club, an electronic music incubator in Durham. If this sounds mysterious, you can find out more at the club’s pop-up Synthesizer Clubhouse at the Rail Car on the American Tobacco Campus, a residency which takes place every weekend through July 27.
Drop by the space (an actual rail car), which has been transformed into a hands-on electronics hub with an “ extensive library of vintage and modern synthesizers, drum machines, samplers, modular and eurorack gear, performance tools, and cutting edge music tech,” per the BOOM Club website, or attend a performance put on by the club at the Pinhook, featuring Erik “Rodent” Cheslak, a modular synth artist from Asheville, and Colloboh (Collins Oboh), a Nigerian‑born, Los Angeles–based producer and composer. —Sarah Edwards
It’s a Shrek-themed rave. And if you don’t get it, I can’t explain it to you.
Durham is just one of 40 cities that will play host to the verdant bacchanalia this summer.
“IT’S DUMB JUST COME HAVE FUN. WHO CARES,” says the website. Get green. Get wild. Why the hell not? —Chase Pellegrini de Paur
Alice Walker’s 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning classic came to life in musical form this month, with a Raleigh Little Theatre production directed by Tia James. Beginning in turn-of-the-century Georgia, The Color Purple follows Celie—Black, poor, and abused by men time and time over—through a series of letters that trace her evolution across 40 years as she gains confidence and is able to heal and challenge the forces of her oppression.
In this production—which features jazz, ragtime, gospel, African music, and blues—Azhariyha Vaughan takes the lead as Celie, with TyDiam Coleman as Shug Avery and Deandre Sanders as Mister. This is the show’s last run—if you’ve been considering going to see it, don’t wait any longer. Tickets start at $29. —SE
When my friends from bigger cities visit the Triangle, they almost always comment on how good the views of the night sky are here. Sure, it’s no dark sky preserve, but we’re pretty lucky to be able to make out some of the brightest objects up there. Take advantage of that—and the drop in temperature after the sun sets—on the roof of the Durham Hotel. Buy a fancy cocktail and join astronomers from UNC’s Morehead Planetarium (and, apparently, a DJ!) in observing and learning about the crescent moon and Mars. —CP
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