Drag for a good cause: Homecoming Queens light up Gibney

Homecoming Queens,
a benefit for New York's Harvey Milk High School,
featured drag performers
such as members of Haus of Umpteen Corpses
with Ragamuffin (second from right)
(photo: Eric Berey)

Kalandra Bankhead
(photo: Chris Barley)

Homecoming Queens--a drag showcase presented at Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center this past Wednesday--was a first for Gibney and fantastic fun. The brisk-paced program was hosted by Gibney Dance's 2016 boo-koo Artist in Residence, Ashley R.T. Yergens, who knows how to introduce just the right degree of looseness and absurdity. And it was supported by an excellent technical team, directed by Asami Morita, particularly nifty with lighting the intimate studio setting. We could almost imagine we were in a cabaret.

Highlights included Vic Sin, preternaturally limber and definitively regal in beard and mien; Ragamuffin (Jesse Forte White), powerful in energy and gaze, surprising us with Anne Carson's words on tragedy, rage and grief; the ebullient and warped lady bedbug (Kelindah Schuster) and her...er...was that a crocodile puppet?; transmasculine K.James in his perfect, smoking-hot tribute to the late George Michael, and lots of imaginative extra-extra from The Dauphine of Bushwick (Tyler Ashley), The Haus of Umpteen Corpses (Angelica Sundae, MEGABABE and Mini Horrorwitz) and Kalandra Bankhead.

A good time was had by all, and I certainly hope it raised a good amount of cash for its beneficiary, New York's Harvey Milk High School, founded in 1985 and dedicated to respect, safety, nurturance and excellence for all students.

Homecoming Queens is closed. For information on future events at Gibney Dance, click here.


Subscribe in a reader