MS 89 is back with a special screening of our 1995 Miss Fifteen Minutes of Fame Pageant, co-hosted by Harrison Apple (Pittsburgh Queer History Project) and former contestant Jezebel Bebbington D’Opulence (The Puerto Rican Princess of Pittsburgh). Join us for a once in a life-time community nightclub archives event, taking place in The Warhol theater, where the pageant played out almost 30 years ago.
The MS 89 series is a live and in-person only nightclub archives screening event. Community members host screenings and discussions of tapes that they had a hand in creating. Pushing back against the tendency to consume archives, MS 89 packs together to watch and rewatch as a ritual in creating new intergenerational friendships via their shared desire for a shared past.
This event is made possible by a generous gift from the Dietrich Humanities Scholars Program, the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, and The Andy Warhol Museum.
About Miss Fifteen Minutes of Fame
The Miss Fifteen Minutes of Fame Pageant was created by Raina Lampkins-Fielder (former education program coordinator) and Glenn Brown (NYC Ball Scene). With a star studded line-up of contestants and judges from Pittsburgh’s queer nightlife, Miss Fifteen Minutes of Fame tells a lesser known story of cultural meaning making spanning performers, museum curators, and after-dark personalities from the Steel City. The documentary footage was captured and edited by filmmaker Roberta Kenney with editing support from filmmaker Chris Ivey, and produced in the editing bays of the former Pittsburgh Filmmakers. As a result of interviews with members of the House of D’Opulence, Apple and Kenney connected to reintroduce this footage by donating her source tapes to the Pittsburgh Queer History Project in 2021.
Co-presented with the Pittsburgh Queer History Project
