“Travesty is a story about why we turn to fantasy in times of danger,” Sasha Velour told Cult MTL last month. “I play all the ghosts in this theatre.”
She brings the show to Beverly Hills for two nights. Travesty plays the Bram Goldsmith Theater at The Wallis on Oct. 29 and 30 at 7:30 p.m., according to The Wallis. The venue offers pre-show meet-and-greet add-ons both nights. Check its ticket page for current prices and availability; existing ticket holders can call 310-746-4000 about an add-on.
How Sasha Velour Came Up With ‘Travesty’
“I started dreaming up a story where I could play people who weren’t me, in many different time periods,” Velour told The Berkshire Eagle in August. “I wanted to tell that story in fragments over the course of the past 150 years.”
The story returns to one place across different eras, from a witch’s execution to a gay bar confronting police. Velour plays its characters through lip-sync, video art and costume changes. Her official show page describes the production’s focus on queer history and resistance.
“It’s basically a hybrid of a play and a piece of performance art and a drag show,” she told Cult MTL.
The title is a dig, too. “Travesty” used to be one of the words for drag. “For one of our earliest words for drag to become synonymous with the perversion of the world really says it all,” Velour told the Eagle.
Where ‘Travesty’ Has Played
It opened at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, D.C., in March, then went to Helsinki in May, Montreal in September and the Krannert Center in Urbana, Illinois, this month. At the Krannert, the Daily Illini reported, she worked the stage crew into the show. “As you can guess, they’re all bisexual,” she joked.
Velour won Season 9 of RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2017 and created the long-running NightGowns revue. Before this she toured Smoke & Mirrors from 2019 to 2022 and The Big Reveal from 2023 to 2025.
