Sights + Sounds: 'The Compton's Cafeteria Riot' immersive play

Late on a summer night in 1966, a cop put his hands on a customer at a popular gathering space for trans women and drag queens. Coffee was thrown in his face, and a riot erupted right there at Compton's Cafeteria in the Tenderloin. This moment was one of the first documented acts of LGBTQ+ resistance in the country. For the past year, an immersive play called The Compton's Cafeteria Riot has been bringing audiences into the historic event as diners inside the cafeteria. The play is produced by the Tenderloin Museum. One of its co-writers, Donna Persona, is a trans rights activist, and Mary Vice is an actor turned drag queen in the play. They spoke to KALW's Jeneé Darden, host of the Sights and Sounds show. Here's an excerpt from their conversation.

You can listen to Sights + Sounds: 'The Compton's Cafeteria Riot' immersive play online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Sights + Sounds: 'The Compton's Cafeteria Riot' immersive play is an episode from Crosscurrents by KALW.

This episode is 08:51 long.

This episode was published on Jun 1, 2026.

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