GAPA Runway 2022!
Runway 2022: Harmonic Convergence was a smashing success! Held on August 13, 2022 at the glamourous Herbst Theater with over 500 in attendance, this was among the top Runway productions ever held! For those attending, we hope you laughed, cheered, and had a great time as much as we did producing the show. For those who could not attend, or simply want to relive the experience, photos from the night can be found here. Also, feel free to check out the Runway program book, viewed on your phone for the best experience.
Glamour and pageantry ruled the night, as the competition discarded binary gender categories and took Runway into an exciting new trajectory. We again want to congratulate the winners of this year’s Runway: Siam Pussie (she/he) and Obsidienne Obsurd (they/them), the winners of the first ever Mx. GAPA titles! We also wanted to give a shout-out to our runners-up: Nia Politan (he/she/they) and Butter Mamon Cakes (they/them)! Along with all the other fabulous contestants serving up Fantasy, Formalwear and Interview, the talent and diversity during Runway was a sight to behold.
It was a jam-packed evening. Our evening’s hosts, Jezebel Patel (she/they) and Sir Whitney Queers (he/him), hosted their sixth consecutive Runway and brought the sass and sizzle we’ve come to expect. Meanwhile as our longest-reigning GAPA Royalty, Miss GAPA 2019 Mocha Fapalatte shared an atmospheric farewell video, while Mr. GAPA 2019 SNJV presented a spectacular and inspiring dance number to end their reigns. To top things off, GAPA Dance made their on-stage debut.
We can’t fail to mention how honored we were to have our outstanding panel of judges. API role models all, they included:
Ehra Amaya (she/her): Miss GAPA 2017 and reigning Empress of the Imperial Council of San Francisco Inc.
Pearl Teese (she/her): Mental Health Clients Rights Advocacy, Asia-SF, and Co-Curator of Trans-Voices at Strut with the SF AIDS Foundation.
Danny Pham (he/him): Founder of QT Nightlife
Denise D. Huynh (she/her): Owner and Founder of Tay Ho Restaurant & Bar
James Coleman (he/him): City Council of South San Francisco
Lastly, we have to thank our generous sponsors who provided invaluable support in making Runway the always fabulous event it has been for over three decades:
Above all, with Runway we hope you get a sense of the community that we continuously look to build. Runway proves there is a voracious appetite for what we do -- the kind of community-first, for-us-by-us QTAPI excellence that Runway epitomizes is truly a special thing; it’s not something that can be found easily. Kudos to our Production Team: Producer Emmett Chen-Ran (he/him), Stage Manager John Maze (he/him), SNJV (any pronouns), Jehtro Patalinghug (they/them), Howard Chan (he/him), Danny Wan (he/him), Danny Chung-Brown (he/him), Rowland Mendoza (he/him), Jacob Lee (he/him), Michael Nguyen (he/him), Rachel Cheng (they/them), and Consultant Jonathan Cheung (he/him), as well as all the volunteers too numerous to mention.
After a two-year COVID break, and with a new production team, Runway 2022 was definitely an invigorating learning experience. We welcome any feedback you may have; please send them to info@gapa.org.
Next year is the 35th Anniversary of GAPA, and 35 years since the first GAPA Royalty was crowned. We definitely have some surprises planned for Runway 2023—hopefully, an even more spectacular show! Stay tuned for details to come!