"This is what queer joy looks like!" declared D'Arcy Drollinger, celebrating the reopening Friday of Oasis, the SoMa nightclub and cabaret venue she cofounded a decade ago.Oasis is, now, born again, after facing two financial crises in the last five years that very nearly killed it. As Drollinger ex plained a year ago, upon the original closure announcement, the club had been struggling to break even for years when an armed robbery in 2024 led to higher insurance and security costs, which made the business all the more unsustainable.Enter Sky Stevens, an Oasis regular whose philanthropic family came to the rescue in a legit "Christmas miracle," days before the club was set to close for good last December. Stevens' parents, Mark and Mary Stevens, have been part of the Giving Pledge for over a decade, and through a family donation they gave a multi-million-dollar gift — the exact amount of which was not publicized — to Oasis Arts, for the purposes of buying their building and keeping the Oasis club and cabaret going.Incidentally, Mark and Mary Stevens also gave major gifts earlier this year to each of their alma maters, USC and Santa Clara University, that dwarf the Oasis donation. As Forbes reported in May, they announced a $175 million gift to Sana Clara University to establish the Mark Mary Stevens School of Medicine, in a joint venture with Sutter Health. And just two weeks earlier, they gvae $200 million to USC to rename the School of Advanced Computing within the Viterbi School of Engineering to the Mark and Mary Stevens School of Computing and Artificial Intelligence.From left: Sister Roma, Mr. David Glamamore, Juanita MORE!, D'Arcy Drollinger, Sky Stevens, Mary Stevens, SF Drag Laureate Per Sia, Donna Sachet, Executive Director Greg Sottolano, and Board Chair David Lindsey. Photo: SFistMark Stevens's fortune, reportedly, comes via early investments in Nvidia, Google, Paypal, and LinkedIn, and he now serves on Nvidia's board of directors.As Mary Stevens said of the Oasis space during the ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday, "It turns out I used to come here in the 80s. I can remember dancing on top of a swimming pool," referring to an earlier incarnation of the club — which was also called Oasis — in which a formerly outdoor swimming pool was plexiglassed over. (It has since been filled in with concrete.)This elicited a solid laugh from the crowd, and a retort from Sister Roma, saying, "I thought I recognized you from somewhere, Mary."Calling Oasis "a cultural institution that has provided me, and countless others, immense joy," Sky Stevens said in a statement, "My family and I are excited to see what this next era of Oasis brings to San Francisco."Photo by Jay Barmann/SFistThe club's front bar room has been refreshed with the help of new lighting and a distinctly pink glow — with a custom LED sign dubbing it "D'Arcy's Champagne Room." The club's main room, roof deck, bathroom hall, and stage have been updated with new murals as well.As Drollinger told the Chronicle last month, in announcing the reopening, "we’re putting lipstick on her, but not giving her a full facelift until we do the fundraising."A mural on the roof deck. Photo by Jay Barmann/SFistDrollinger said that the last six months have given her and the board of Oasis Arts, along with new Executive Director Greg Sottolano, a chance to reimagine the club and the space for the first time in 11 years — a successful mid-pandemic telethon had previously given Drollinger, then the sole owner, the chance to renovate and open up the roof deck and build the front-room stage. Going forward, she explains, a new LLC will manage the club's operations and the bar business, while the nonprofit will take care of programming for cabarets, stage productions, and drag nights.The main stage. Photo by Jay Barmann"Queer performance doesn't survive by accident," Drollinger said in a statement. "It sticks around because of amazing artists who get support to make work that matters. "Drollinger has also been working on a feature film, a follow-up to her 2020 dragsploitation sendup Shit Champagne, titled Lady Champagne — both of which follow the undercover action adventures of a character Drollinger created a decade ago, exotic dancer and serial divorcee Champagne Horowitz Jones Dickerson White.The new film had its premiere last month at Frameline, and is being screened at Oasis on July 30 with a live QA afterward with Drollinger and the cast. Find tickets for that, and for all upcoming Oasis events, on the club's website.Regular drag nights like Princess and Reparations are back on regular rotation, with Princess having its reboot already on Saturday. And Oasis will again be curating the Saturday shows on the Dolores' Stage at Outside Lands, and will be hosting a "Dragside Lands Afterparty" that night, August 8, hosted by Rupaul's Drag Race Season 17 stars Kori King and Lydia Butthole Collins.Oasis is also back open in time to host its annual Dore Alley day party on July 26, and native San Franciscan and Oasis regular performer Matthew Martin, who specializes in channeling Old Hollywood divas like Bette Davis and Judy Garland, will be bringing a new cabaret show titled "Matthew Martin Is Back In Business" to the club July 31 and August 1. Previously: Oasis to Reopen July 17, Now as Owner of Its Building ...read more read less