Cosmic Comedy with 'Star Trek Live'

Celebrate the stellar entertainment of with cross-dressing space cadets as "Star Trek Live: Mudd's Women" continues its run on the Oasis stage through October 31. The show, starring drag king extraordinaire Leigh Crow as Captain James T. Kirk, will feature the Trekkie favorite "Mudd's Women," which originally aired on October 13, 1966. The original Star Trek script is performed as written, albeit with a number of fun, queer twists.

D'arcy Drollinger, Oasis' hostess with the mostess, directed the show. The drag auteur has become well known for his live television parodies, including "Three's Company," "Sex and the City," "Designing Women," and others.

" 'Star Trek' is in a class of its own due in part to the continuously growing number of obsessed fans," Drollinger said in an interview. "So when our target audience knows the episodes better than you, there is a very big task at hand." Drollinger points out that "Star Trek" was always meant to be a serious show.

"It's sincerity begs for respect," Drollinger said. The show, he said, would not be a loose adaptation, but what he calls a "restoration piece."

"The script is melodramatic," said Leigh Crow. "It lends itself to parody. There are many camp lines in 'Mudd's Women,' but the original cast played it seriously."

Crow added that the line delivery of the Oasis cast would emphasize the script's campy over-the-top appeal.

"It's fun to play Bill Shatner," Crow said. "He's such an egomaniac. I don't think he falls very far from the character of Kirk."

Crow also pointed to the serious message lurking behind Star Trek's often fantastic scripts.

"I think it was an important statement to show this very accepting universe," she said of a show, where people of different races - and species - interacted in harmony with each other. "This hadn't been seen before in Sci-Fi, it had all been white guys. It gave people hope as individuals that they could be equal with their fellow man."

Designer Sarah Phykitt was given the daunting task of recreating the bridge of the Starship Enterprise.

"We were trying to stay truthful to the original design," she said. "We found the original blueprints online; it was a no brainer to use them."

Phykitt describes those blueprints as "very detailed."

"It was easy to take them and modify them for what we were trying to convey," she said, adding that she put a lot of heart, soul and sweat into her re-creation of the iconic Captain's chair, from which Shatner, as Kirk, gave out many orders to his crew. Phykitt's design is both recognizable to ardent Trekkies, albeit with a queer sensibility.

"Nothing says the USS Enterprise like the Captain's chair," she said. "I wanted to have the feeling of being on that bridge: 1960s cheesy camp but still be appropriate to what we do at Oasis."
All hands on deck! Honey Mahogany as Uhura, Amber Sommerfield at Spock and Leigh Crow at Capt. Kirk in Star Trek Live at Oasis. photo: Gareth Gooch

Phykitt acknowledged that this show might attract a demographic not usually associated with the queer-centric Oasis.

"We're seeing a lot of new people," she said of the show's audiences. "Trekkies who usually don't go to a drag show."

"It stands on its own as a space opera and as a drag comedy show," added Crow.

But those Trekkies might be in for a bit of a surprise.

"Crossing genders, making this cast made up primarily drag kings (women playing men) feels fresh and hilarious on its own," said Drollinger. "Who knows? Maybe one day we'll flash forward to the hyperspace of Next Generation."

"Star Trek Live: 'Mudd's Women' " at Oasis, Thursday through Saturday at 7pm; through October 31. $25-500. 21+. 298 11 Street at Folsom. www.sfoasis.com