![]() ![]() When Rod and his mates take to the stage, you’ll come across characters like the seasoned King Chad Love, serving suave pet detective charm in a zebra zoot suit. Every show is different, but you’re guaranteed a great night out.”īig Rod loves nothing more than inviting you into his man cave for a beer and talking your ear off, and he’s fruiter than he’ll ever admit. “It’s a night of variety and entertainment – from lip-syncing to live music, to comedy, storytelling, erotic dancing, and the list goes on. ![]() “People can expect what they know about drag to be thrown on its head!” show host Rodney (aka ‘Big Rod’, aka improv comedy performer Laura Hart) told Time Out. Drag kings are taking centre stage every month at the Giant Dwarf Theatre’s new home with a rotating and eclectic gang of disarmingly charming gents strutting their stuff.Įxpect a mixed bag of variety acts (performed by a largely female-identifying cast) embodying masculine characters who serve up everything from glam rock-esque David Bowie energy to befuddled IT guys. You can find more information by clicking here.While drag queens have well and truly penetrated the mainstream, there’s an entirely different kind of drag royalty that is tucked and loaded with oodles of gender bending artistry. He and his partners at 716 Pride launched “Rookie Knights” for drag kings to try out their personals in a comfortable place. “I think that instead of being afraid or feeling hate, it's better to get to know each other as humans, and just grow together,” said Hercury. He encourages anyone who has questions, whether getting involved, or just understanding what this community is all about, to ask. “It's been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life and the community is very accepting,” he said. “I think that the only way to win, or whatever word you want to use, is to be visible and to not be scared and not go back into the proverbial closet,” Hercury explained.įor him, some contour and a bedazzled outfit is drag, not danger. Northeast USA pageant, that’s top of mind. "I think it makes a lot of people uncomfortable.”Īs Hercury photographs for the Mr. “I think we have very toxic expectations of people assigned male at birth, and drag queens really challenged that," he said. It’s just a matter of a few finishing touches to bring him to life.Īs Hercury gets dressed, and throws on a wig and some chest hair, it doesn’t escape him that visibility can be a positive spotlight, but it can also put a target on your back. ![]() With the hard part done, Gray's transformation into Hercury is almost complete. “You can argue that all gender presentation is drag, so I mean in that way, I'm always doing drag,” said Gray. “Most contour is focused on making faces more feminine, and so you're sort of breaking the rules of contour because you're trying to make your face look more masculine,” Gray explained.īut to all that, Freddie Hercury would simply say, as the Queen song goes: "Don’t Stop Me Now." “There's not as many venues that are even looking to book kings,” said Gray. “I actually only have a home now because my friend and I are actually just making it,” said Gray.Īmong events typically centered around drag queens, being a king has its own challenges. “As I started to figure out my own identity, and that I'm genderfluid, and that I have a lot of masculine presentation that I want to express, that drag king-ing was a good way to do that,” Gray said.įreddie Hercury is a drag persona they’ve done for less than a year, but Grey already found their place here in Buffalo. “I still don't know what half this stuff is called,” they joked, going through their makeup bag. Thankfully for Brittany Gray, makeup does. "But as you get older, you kind of realize that it's more than that.”Ĭonnecting with who you truly are doesn’t come with instructions. “They call it a tomboy when you're young, right?" said Brittany Gray. While in recent decades, drag queens have surged in popularity, both for and against, there are performers presenting all kinds of genders on stage. Drag has been around, in one form or another, for more than 100 years. ![]()
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