DIASPORA Calendar: October 5 – October 11, 2026

FILM

Teen Witch – 4 PM, October 10: Top That! Behold the magic, the music, the hairspray, the tutus, and the rap battles of this camptastic spectacle of 80s awesomeness! Louise is a teenage nerd with dreams of popularity, romance, and style that always seem to elude her. But when she happens upon the witch Madame Serena (played by Poltergeist‘s Zelda Rubinstein), she discovers she’s about to come into her magical powers upon her 16th birthday. But even as all her dreams come true, she’s finding out that magic isn’t always enchanting. Sing along to such bizarro songs as I Like Boys, Top That, and Most Popular Girl as this campy and over-the-top musicalamity casts its spell on you. Vidiots, 4884 Eagle Rock Blvd., Los Angeles.

Chocolate Babies with Stephen Winter – 7:30 PM, October 7: Vidiots and One Institute are thrilled to welcome writer/director Stephen Winter for a special screening of the new 4K Restoration of the radical and riotous New Queer Cinema treasure Chocolate Babies!

A frenetic debut feature from writer/director Stephen Winter, Chocolate Babies unleashes a world of anarchic camp and unapologetic Black queer power in one of the hidden gems of New Queer Cinema, ripe for rediscovery and ready to be introduced to new audiences. Through a campaign of fabulous surprise attacks, an underground band of radical queer HIV+ activists, addicts, and drag queens take to the streets of New York City to combat conservative politicians and government apathy towards the AIDS crisis.

For the film’s 25th anniversary, Frameline has commissioned a 4K restoration of Chocolate Babies in partnership with the National Film Preservation Foundation, the UCLA Film & Television Archive, and the Outfest Legacy Project. Following its festival run in the mid-1990s (playing at SXSW, the Berlinale, and Frameline21), Chocolate Babies struggled to secure major distribution due to its radically independent Black queer vision, but eventually found a home at Frameline Distribution who championed the film and continued to bring it to new audiences. Frameline proudly presents the world premiere of this pristine restoration in rich color and vivid detail like never before.

Chocolate Babies is presented by Vidiots and community programming partners One Institute as part of the 2026 Circa: Queer Histories Festival, presented by One Institute. Vidiots, 4884 Eagle Rock Blvd., Los Angeles.

First They Came For My College – 6:45 PM, October 10: When Florida Governor Ron DeSantis stages a coup at New College, the state’s beloved public honors college, students and professors confront a new reality: their campus is ground zero in an unprecedented nationwide assault on academic freedom and diversity. First They Came for My College tells the inside story of the right-wing campaign to “reconquer” higher education in America. New College of Florida was the first public college to be transformed by a political coup – a blueprint for our new era of unprecedented censorship and political interference in academia. By embedding with the student newspaper, an outspoken professor, and students from all sides of the political spectrum, this verité feature reveals a microcosm of America’s culture wars and serves as an essential document for students today grappling with their moment in history. Vidiots, 4884 Eagle Rock Blvd., Los Angeles.

Scary Movie – 7:30 PM, October 8-9: A year after disposing of the body of a man they accidentally killed, a group of dumb teenagers are stalked by a bumbling serial killer. Gardena Cinema, 14948 Crenshaw Blvd., Gardena.

Big Trouble in Little China – 7:30 PM, October 8: John Carpenter’s San Francisco-set, supernatural spin on Hollywood’s Chinatown tropes populates the storied neighborhood with mystical beings. Kurt Russell is antihero Jack Burton, an outsider who’s clueless without his Chinese American friend Wang Chi (Dennis Dun). Teaming up to save Wang’s fiancé from the vicious Lords of Death, the pair… embarks on a curiously supernatural adventure through the street of this historic Bay Area district. Originally written as a period Western, this cult favorite is an off-kilter, distinctly Carpenterian take on traditional action films, buoyed with the filmmaker’s signature wry comedy. Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, 6067 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.

Get on the Bus 30th Anniversary Screening in 4K – 3 PM, October 10: The 30th anniversay screening will include appearances from Reuben Cannon, Gabriel Casseus, Bill Borden, Reggie Rock Bythewood, Hill Harper, Kim Taylor Coleman, and Olden Lee.

In October 1995, group of African American men board a bus for a cross-country trip to Washington D.C. They have different backgrounds and hold varying beliefs, but they’re all on the way to the same march. Among them are a father and a teenage son forced together by court order;… a gay couple on the verge of a breakup; an aspiring actor who’s homophobic and loud about it; and a man whose father, a police officer, was killed, he says, “by a brother.” Most of the film takes place in or around the moving bus as the conversations grow more personal, and emotions roil to the surface.

Spike Lee’s Get on the Bus, which was shot in three weeks, was financed by a small group of men including Danny Glover, Wesley Snipes, Will Smith, and Johnnie Cochran. Inspired by the Million Man March of 1995, Lee’s film delves into the racism that has influenced Black communities for generations, creating space for genuine, and difficult, discourse about the community’s inner and outward-facing conflicts. Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, 6067 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.

MUSEUMS AND ART

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art – NOW OPEN! The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opens on September 22! It’ll be crowded for a while, but I’m sure it’s amazing! The new museum in L.A. celebrates the power of visual storytelling. Founded by George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, the museum explores how images move us and shape our collective memory. From Frida Kahlo’s self-portrait to Norman Rockwell’s scenes of everyday life to Charles White’s portraits of dignity. Each invites reflection. Each tells a story. One Lucas Plaza, 3800 S Vermont Ave., Los Angeles.

Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind – through October 11: Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind traces more than seven decades of Yoko Ono’s groundbreaking career, from her early text-based works in the 1950s and ’60s to recent large-scale installations informed by her ongoing campaigns for world peace. Organized in collaboration with Tate Modern, London, the exhibition—Ono’s first solo museum exhibition in Southern California—explores her radical approach to art, language, and participation, challenging conventional ideas about the roles of artist and audience. The Broad, 221 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles. 

Willie Birch: Stories to Tell – through October 21: The first-ever career retrospective of renowned artist Willie Birch, this exhibition brings together groundbreaking works from 1968 to the present that chronicle his unique vision of Black American life and the interconnected nature of global art forms. Born and raised in New Orleans and trained in Europe, Baltimore, and New York, Birch often speaks about “retentions,” a term he uses to describe evidence of one culture’s narratives and traditions within another. Throughout his career, Birch has explored particularly how African traditions have been retained in music, art, and culture in America as part of the Black experience and beyond. California African American Museum, 600 State Dr, Los Angeles.

Free and Queer: Black Californian Roots of Gay Liberation – through February 28, 2027: Free and Queer: Black Californian Roots of Gay Liberation presents California as a pioneering site of sustained, Black-led struggles for LGBTQ equality, civil rights, and recognition. The exhibition recovers histories largely excluded from existing narratives and exposes powerful ways that print culture, artistic practice, and performance styles shaped, advanced, and interpreted Black queer social movements alongside political and legal activism. California African American Museum, 600 State Dr, Los Angeles.

Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon – through February 28, 2027: Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon celebrates Marilyn Monroe—born Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926—as a visionary actor and image-maker, examining how she created and shaped her public image in the context of the classical Hollywood studio system. Presenting hundreds of original objects, including posters, portraits, photographs, production documents, letters,… and rarely seen personal materials—many on display for the first time—the exhibition offers unique insight into her agency in becoming a Hollywood icon. The exhibition also features an extensive array of Monroe’s screen-worn costumes, ranging from a dress featured in Love Happy (1949) to items from her final and unfinished film, Something’s Got to Give (1962). Major highlights include two costumes by Orry-Kelly from Some Like it Hot (1959), as well as the rarely exhibited famous pink dress by William Travilla from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles.

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures ASL Interpreted Tours: American Sign Language (ASL) tours of select galleries are always offered at noon on the same day as the museum’s monthly Calm Morning program and accommodative Family Matinee film screening. Join a museum educator and ASL interpreter to experience cinema’s wide-ranging contributions to the world. Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, 6067 Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles.

THEATRE

Before It’s Too Late – through October 6: A clock counts down as Christopher Moncayo-Torres, a habitually late Ecuadorian-American live-storyteller, rushes to make up for lost time with his born and bred Ecuadorian parents, Nancy Moncayo and Abel Torres in this heartfelt, comedic solo-ish show. Showing up for Christopher as best they can, Abel, his once estranged, 82-year–old father, will fly in from Queens, NY, and Nancy, his 78-year-old mother, will video call in from her home in Ecuador.

Making their performance debut as a duo (yes, really), Abel and Nancy will co-parent Christopher for the first time and unpack their complex relationship throughout this epic evening of attempted belated bonding despite their language barrier- Christopher only knows so much Spanish, his parents only know so much English. This recovering no sabo kid ( a Latino or Hispanic individual living in the U.S. who does not speak Spanish well or at all) from Queens will need your support as Christopher juggles translations, true stories, too many boxes, hopefully-reliable video calls, a pair of backup moms (his eldest sisters, Natalie & Catherine might make a cameo) while actually preparing delicious Ecuadorian food from his mother’s recipe book. Despite the cultural, geographical and linguistic chasms between them, can these two aging immigrant parents and their child experience forgiveness, empathy and generational joy while actually understanding one another before time runs out? Outside In, 5317 York Blvd., Los Angeles.

Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares – October 8-11: A hilarious, heartfelt one-woman comedy show from Tony Award winner Laura Benanti. Filled with comedy, songs, and unfiltered truth, this NY Times Critic’s Pick is a love letter to recovering people pleasers and anyone working on themselves. Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Avenue, Pasadena.

Into The Woods – through October 18: When the Baker and his wife venture into the forest to break a witch’s curse, they encounter Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and Jack (of beanstalk fame)—and familiar tales take on clever new lives. But be careful what you wish for, because “happily ever after” is never the whole story. With a Tony Award-winning book and score, this poignant musical comedy masterpiece celebrates its 40th anniversary with a fabulous new SCR production. South Coast Repertory, Emmes/Benson Theatre Center, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa.

Yamel Cucuy – October 8 – November 1: Yamel Cucuy is the story of a girl on the precipice of adulthood, contending with the physical and metaphysical violence of borders. Yamel is hunted by immigration agents while haunted by specters from Mexican folklore. On the shadowy frontier between life and death, she forges her own spirit of courage and wisdom. Set to an original score of indigenous percussion, Yamel Cucuy blends sophisticated puppetry with live actors and draws upon frightening folk tales and modern horror movies to create a terrifying psychological landscape of pitfalls both legal and spiritual. The Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring St., Los Angeles.

The Dance and the Railroad – through November 1: On the railroad that helped build America, two immigrant Chinese laborers navigate survival, identity, and what it means to chase the American Dream.

Set on a California mountain during the 1867 Chinese Railroad Workers Strike, The Dance and the Railroad explores the lives of two laborers: Ma, an optimistic and idealistic recent immigrant to California hoping to make his fortune; and Lone, the pragmatic and independent former Chinese opera actor who was forced to leave the opera school by his parents to work in America. While taking refuge away from the labor camp, Lone reluctantly teaches Ma how to perform Chinese opera. As their friendship grows, Lone and Ma reminisce about the homes they left behind, the lives they hope to build and what it means to chase the American Dream. Through the beauty and athleticism of Chinese opera, The Dance and the Railroad tells an intimate story of friendship and the ways art and personal history intersect with the larger story of America. The Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring St., Los Angeles.

COMEDY

Twilight Zone Unscripted – 7 PM, October 7: Four completely improvised journeys into the unknown. No script. No safety net. No two shows are ever the same. From the creators of the acclaimed Tennessee Williams UnScripted, Impro Theatre presents four fully improvised episodes inspired by the iconic The Twilight Zone. Beginning with a single audience suggestion, each performance unfolds live into a world of mystery, suspense, humor, and the unexpected. Strange visitors. Impossible choices. Unexplained phenomena. Every twist and unforgettable ending is created in the moment. Dynasty Typewriter, 2511  Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.

Improvised Monster Movie – 10:30 PM, Fridays, through November 20: Inspired by the golden age of late-night horror hosts, drive-in creature features, and classic B-movies, Improvised Monster Movie invites audiences to create the night’s film before the cameras (sort of) roll. From the name of the town and the body count to outrageous product placements, monster weaknesses, and unforgettable plot twists, audience suggestions become the ingredients for a completely original creature feature.

Packed with suspense, laughs, outrageous monsters, and a healthy dose of drive-in nostalgia, every performance is a love letter to the creature features that kept generations of horror Outside In, 5317 York Blvd., Los Angeles.

Free Donut New Material Wednesdays with Maria Bamford and Jenny Yang Wednesdays, October 7- 28: Join Maria Bamford and Jenny Yang for Free Donut New Material Wednesdays—a live stand-up show where they try out brand-new jokes, ideas, and material in front of an audience. Come have a free donut, bring some coffee, and watch two acclaimed comedians work things out in real time. Maria takes the stage at 9:00 AM, followed by Jenny at 9:45 AM. $25 suggested donation — all proceeds go directly to supporting the space. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

BOOKS

Matthew J. Prigge and Dog’s Day: The True Story of a Bank Robbery, Gay Liberation, and Toxic Love That Inspired a Hollywood Classic  – 7 PM, October 5: Al Pacino famously portrayed a fictionalized Wojtowicz in the film Dog Day Afternoon, but Hollywood could only tell part of the story. Dog’s Day is the never-before-told story of the robbery and the tragically intertwined lives that made it happen. From the gritty origins of the gay liberation movement to the Mafia exploiters who controlled New York City’s queer gathering spaces to the bizarre post-prison celebrity of a man who could never admit he’d done anything wrong, Dog’s Day is a story that feels as relevant today as it was fifty years ago: a messy love story in a politically fraught time in which simply being oneself could be seen as an act of rebellion. Nerves fray and desperation looms, guns are drawn and the straight world–for a few hours at least–cannot look away. Book Soup, 8818 W Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood.

Talking To the Moon by Noel Alumit – 7 PM, October 9: From the award-winning author Noel Alumit comes this heartbreaking story of a racially motivated shooting that triggers the memories, hopes, and dreams of a Filipino American family. Inspired by an actual event, this funny, rich novel unflinchingly tackles the most explosive topics facing America today: race, religion, and sexuality. Skylight Books, 1818 N Vermont Ave., Los Angeles.

COMMUNITY

Models of Pride – 11 AM – 4 PM, October 10: Building on more than three decades of bringing LGBTQ+ youth together, Models of Pride Youth Summit returns to the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Anita May Rosenstein Campus in Hollywood. Over the years, Models of Pride has welcomed honorees and special guests including Kevin Ninh, Trixie Mattel, Dylan Mulvaney, Hayley Kiyoko, Bretman Rock, VINCINT, and more! Anita May Rosenstein Campus,1118 N. McCadden Pl., Los Angeles. 

Gay Ass Trivia at Precinct – 7 PM, Thursdays: Queen Sheeba hosts this weekly trivia night with prizes including bar tabs, shots, and bar apparel. Maximum team sizes of six people. No cover! Precinct, 357 S Broadway, Los Angeles.

May the Balls be with You: Drag Queen Bingo 7 PM, Tuesdays and Wednesdays:  Legendary Bingo is LA’s most popular Drag Queen Bingo & charity event! Come play at Hamburger Mary’s every Tuesday and Wednesday!  Hamburger Mary’s, 8288 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood.

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