SAN FRANCISCO — Jiz Lee will be appearing in "God in Three Persons,” a multimedia rock opera by Bay Area avant-garde pioneers The Residents and visual artist John Sanborn, this Friday and Saturday at the Presidio Theatre in San Francisco.
The noted adult performer and sex workers' rights advocate will appear on screen as "The Twins" in the live video/theater performance, adapted by Sanborn from The Residents’ influential 1988 album “God in Three Persons.”
The show is billed as “a propulsive and brooding musical about madness. The Residents’ anonymous lead singer performs as disgraced preacher "Mr. X," who tells an improbable tale of encounters with a pair of ambiguously gendered conjoined twins, who might be miracle workers.”
“God in Three Persons,” the rep continued, “confronts audiences with the horrors of losing your soul while attempting to attain perfection.”
The version to be staged in San Francisco will, for the first time, contain all of the songs from The Residents’ original album, making it “the definitive version of the show,” according to the rep.
Travis Chamberlain directed the work for the stage with musical direction by Joshua Raoul Brody, sound design by Jake Rodriguez and puppet and prop design by Leigh Barbier.
“It's an honor to be invited to perform alongside The Residents and participate in the stage revival of such a legendary album,” Lee told XBIZ. “To be cast as the gender-fluid Twins recognized my own nonbinary identity and gave me an opportunity to perform a range of emotions and physical movement expressions.”
“This video appearance marks my second time working with John Sanborn,” they added, “the first being ‘Mythic Status’ (2015) and most recently ‘The Friend’ (2021), starring John Cameron Mitchell and currently on exhibition tours in Europe.”
“I admire the creative and collaborative nature of his video art,” Lee concluded.
As XBIZ reported, the show was previously staged at New York's Museum of Modern Art in January 2020, immediately before the COVID-19-related closure of all live events.
For more information and tickets, click here.
