Media Meltdown

Queer art and movie madness by professional weirdos.

About

“Media Meltdown is (…) putting on some of the most riotous drag shows in the city…” - SF Gate

MEDIA MELTDOWN is a queer art and event production collective that celebrates cult media, weird pop culture, and childhood nostalgia. Hosted by San Francisco-based drag performers and “roommates” (in the Biblical sense) Kafka X & Piranha Psychotronica, we’re known for bringing you the themes no other drag show dares to tackle!

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Media Meltdown formed in 2019 and began producing immersive parties at the Stud and Makeout Room in San Francisco (think, a Wrestlemania-themed party in which a wrestling ring was constructed in the middle of the Makeout Room and drag performers duked it out while fans cheered from the sidelines.) We also hosted a monthly cult-film series at the Alamo Drafthouse New Mission.

On March 15, 2020 — the night before San Francisco's COVID quarantine was announced — Media Meltdown became the first digital drag show due to a last-minute venue cancellation. For the next few years, we produced weekly content on our Twitch channel. We offered free digital production classes to fellow queer artists and managed a network of streaming shows that included drag shows, cult movie screenings, local band music video shows, video games streams, cooking shows, comics & pop culture recaps, readings, and more. Celebrity guests included Alaska Thunderfuck (RuPaul’s Drag Race), Felony Dodger (Dragula), Chaki the Funk Wizard, and more.

In late 2021, Media Meltdown returned to live production with a series of fandom dance parties (Nick @ Fright, May the 4th) at the Oasis nightclub, an all-ages drag-hosted pumpkin patch pop-up, and a new cult movie series in partnership with Cinema SF (Balboa & 4 Star Theaters). Through this last partnership, we've worked with cult film icons such as Lloyd Kaufman & Mercedes the Muse (Troma), Dana Ashbrook & Sheryl Lee (Twin Peaks), and Chris LaMartina (WNUF Halloween Special).

In 2022, we entered the world of film production with our original shorts FrankenDivine and Evil in Residence. January 2023 saw a sold-out engagement at SF Sketchfest with Media Meltdown’s original Select Thine Own Journey: An Interactive Fantasy Drag Show, which has become a perennial hit.

We've had the pleasure over the years of partnering and performing with organizations including SF Sketchfest, Oaklash, The Frameline Film Festival, The Roxie Theater, Children's Fairyland, and Princess @ Oasis. Follow @MediaMeltdownSF on Instagram to stay up-to-date with all future engagements!

Piranha Psychotronica

Producer / Artistic Director

One of Media Meltdown's primary hosts, Piranha Psychotronica is the creative mastermind behind Media Meltdown's most ambitious productions, namely Select Thine Own Journey: An Interactive Fantasy Drag Show (SF Sketchfest 2023, Oasis 2023-2024) and the original short films Evil In Residence (2023) and FrankenDivine (2022). Follow them on Instagram for updates on their future work as part of Media Meltdown and beyond.

Full Bio >

Piranha Psychotronica is a SF-based drag entertainer, theater artist, and filmmaker. After cutting their teeth working on Grand Guignol and Theater of the Ridiculous shows with Thrillpeddlers and cult-movie tributes with Peaches Christ Productions, Piranha began professionally producing theater with D’Arcy Drollinger & Heklina at the newly opened Oasis, directing and starring in such shows as Star Trek Live: The Naked Time. Piranha later went on to co-direct (with Jason Hoover) Ray of Light Theater’s 2018 production of Hedwig & the Angry Inch.

Along with their partner Kafka X, Piranha hosts Media Meltdown, which can be seen at their monthly show Media Meltdown Movie Madhouse at the 4 Star Theater and pop-up events around the Bay. Their original stage show Select Thine Own Journey recently enjoyed sold-out engagements at SF Sketchfest and Oasis. As a filmmaker, Piranha has produced and directed several shorts that have been featured at the Oaklash Film Festival, the SF Transgender Film Festival, Dark Thoughts Film Festival, Dimensions Film Festival, and Cinema SF Theaters. Piranha served as the production coordinator on the 2020 feature film Shit & Champagne (dir. D'Arcy Drollinger). As their character Cherry Cosmic, they are the lead singer and lyricist of the glam synth band HOLOGLAM (debut EP out soon). Follow them on Instagram at @Piranha_Psychotronica for updates on future work.


Kafka X

Producer / Technical Director

Kafka X (formerly Franzia Kafka) is the technical lead and other primary host of Media Meltdown. For two years, they produced multiple weekly livestreams on Media Meltdown's Twitch channel, and have served as a technical jack-of-all-trades for Media Meltdown's film work and live shows. They also built this website. 🙂

Full Bio >

Forever a man of mystery, Kafka's unredacted bio will be revealed soon.

The Movie Madhouse

3rd Sundays at the 4 Star Theater

Get Tickets Here!

Gender jesters Piranha Psychotronica and Kafka X bring you a new experience in cinematic depravity… Media Meltdown Movie Madhouse! Prepare yourself to enter into a world of face-flaying forgotten and forsaken films… Made-for-TV, Direct-to-Video, VCR games, underground cinema, and more wiley weirdness than your minds can handle! In a world dominated by AI, CGI, mega streaming platforms, and cinematic universes, Media Meltdown celebrates the amateur, the low-budget, the handmade, the experimental, and the weird! Commit yourself every 3rd Sunday to … MEDIA MELTDOWN MOVIE MADHOUSE!

Playing in March:
FATAL DEVIATION (1998)

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with the greatest underground film to come out of the Emerald Isle - FATAL DEVIATION (1998)! This film is basically Mortal Kombat meets Roadhouse but made on a budget of Guinness! As far as we can tell, when their local martial arts enthusiast heard that Hong Kong producers might be interested in casting him if they could see more of his work, the entire small town of Trim banded together to make Ireland's first ever martial arts film and it is a must see! Shot entirely on VHS, the film is brimming with heart, when it's not whisking you away into the mesmerizing performances or the epic, elaborate low budget fight scenes!

Fatal Deviation ad

Select Thine Own Journey

“A must-see!” - SF Gate

Media Meltdown’s original stage production “Select Thine Own Journey” is a unique theatrical experience like no other! Developed in the style of “Choose Your Own Adventure” novels, each show is an original story where the audience is asked to make crucial choices at key moments that affect the heroes' journey, resulting in multiple possible endings on any given night. Starring some of the San Francisco Bay Area’s funniest drag performers and comic actors, Select Thine Own Journey throws theater, comedy, drag, and improv into a blender with all of your favorite genre tropes and gives birth to a magical stage experience that SFGate called “a must-see”!

COMING THIS MAY: Select Thine Own Journey... in Space!

Get tickets here!

Select Thine Own Journey in Space

𝙈𝙀𝘿𝙄𝘼 𝙈𝙀𝙇𝙏𝘿𝙊𝙒𝙉 presents...Select Thine Own Journey… In Space! The Bay Area’s funniest drag performers are forming a Rebel Alliance to save the galaxy and they need a little help… from you! After sell-out performances at Sketchfest and Oasis, San Francisco’s hit show SELECT THINE OWN JOURNEY returns to boldly go where no interactive comedy show has gone before… to space! This all-new story will feature multiple unique endings and a different drag guest star with no clue on what will unfold around them for each performance! Will you answer the call to adventure? Will you support our heroes in their quest, or sabotage them at every turn? You never know what fabulousness or fearsomeness awaits you from Select Thine Own Journey… in Space!

  • All
  • Sketchfest 2023
  • Oasis 2023
  • Oasis 2024 ("The Next Chapter")

Full Calendar


Past Shows

We've done a ton of stuff. Get a taste of what we're capable of with the sampling below. This is only the tip of the iceberg!

  • Select Thine Own Journey: An Interactive Fantasy Drag Show
    A sold-out engagement at San Francisco Sketchfest January 2023 and Oasis SF (Nov 2023). At pivotal moments the action stops and the audience must choose from one of several branching paths. Can the Bay Area's funniest drag performers roll with the punches?
  • Nick @ Fright at Oasis
    Media Meltdown’s first large-scale dance party featured immersive decor, drag performers & go-gos, a slimy photobooth and throwback visuals & music designed to take partiers back to a cartoon-fueled 90s Halloween.
  • Pop-Up Drag Pumpkin Patch at Milk SF
    Complete with pumpkins sourced from a trans-owned farm, drag hosts, performances every half hour, free candy, and a haunted walk-through attraction, this pumpkin patch was a highlight of the 2021 Halloween season.
  • Wrestlemania: A Drag Show at The Make-Out Room
    A highlight of Media Meltdown’s pre-pandemic parties, the Media Meltdown crew built a wrestling ring in the middle of San Francisco’s Makeout Room and had drag performers (including Nicki Jizz, Drag Queen of the Year 2023) literally duke it out while fans cheered on the lifts, drops, and wig snatches from the sidelines.
  • Cult Movie Screenings at the Balboa & 4 Star Theaters
    Our Cinema SF cult movie series beginning in September 2021 at San Francisco’s Balboa & 4 Star Theaters has featured special guests such as Sheryl Lee & Dana Ashbrook from Twin Peaks, Troma’s Lloyd Kaufman and Mercedes the Muse, and director Chris LaMartina (WNUF Halloween Special, Call Girl of Cthulhu).

Film Work

Evil in Residence (2023)

When a struggling artist is attacked, her career takes off in surprising and macabre directions.

Premiered at: 4 Star Theatre (SF, CA)

Featured at: Dark Thoughts Film Festival and Chromatic Cinematique showcase.

Blue Moods (2023) [Commercial]

Media Meltdown was thrilled to work with San Francisco based queer artist Another Bard on this promotional music video for their recent EP, Blue Hour.

FrankenDivine (2022)

In this loving (if not lewd) send-up of gothic horror and cult filth, a mad scientist and his necrophiliac henchman resurrect their queer idol to reshape the world in their image, only to discover that she has plans of her own.

Featured at: Dimensions, Oaklash and the SF Transgender film festivals.

Fan Club

Join our fan club mailing list to get the meltiest, most up-to-date info about upcoming shows, hijinks, and more! Never more than one email per week.

All fan club members can receive a special fan club card at any in-person Media Meltdown event!

Sign Up Here

(Double check your "Promotions" and "Spam" tabs if you aren't seeing the newsletter after signing up.)

Contact

Want to plan an event? Need some drag hosts? Curious about past events or what we do? Shoot us a message and we'll get back to you ASAP!

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