It’s been nearly two years since Trixie Mattel graced the TV stage of RuPaul’s Drag Race, and it’s time that she’s made the most of. Since her initial appearance, elimination, re-appearance, and re-elimination from RuPaul’s queen-making machine, she’s become a YouTube celebrity, both solo and in partnership with her best squirrel-friend Katya, toured with her own live stage show, and even made a guest appearance on the most recent season of Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story.
With our country in a state of disarray over politics, when the need for representation matters more than ever. While video games may not seem like an obvious target area for diversity, it’s a continually growing industry spanning multiple sectors which grossed $23.5 billion dollars last year, more than music or movies.
Words have long held power. From the past days of witches and shamans, to the present day were a single tweet can make or break a career, the power of words, of language, is undeniable. One of my favorite wordsmiths (and, full disclosure, one of my favorite people) is the author of a recently released collection of amazing words called My, My, My, My, My.
I first met Jamie Torcellini in my junior year at the United States International University School of Performing and Visual Arts. He was a diminutive young Gene Kelly type who had grown up in San Diego’s Jr. Theatre program. We acted together in a main-stage production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, where he was anything but type-cast as the Courtesan peddler Marcus Lycus, and I was (at age 20) the venerable and dotty Erronius.
If you’re lover of burlesque, and Seattle’s rich burlesque community, then you’re likely also a lover of Boom Boom L’Roux. The performer and producer has been an active part of Seattle’s arts scene for the better part of a decade, after all.
Tonight marks the debut not only of a new queer theatrical production, but of a new queer playwright and director, Robert Roth. The play is called “When there were Angels”, Robert’s semi-autobiographical account of fleeing his emotionally abusive and homophobic family to find self-acceptance, adventure, and love–and it comes to us at a time when the need for new queer arts has been so deeply underscored.
Certainly few other bands can claim the title of “pioneers” like Pansy Division. Often lumped in with the nebulous “queer-core” movement of the early nineties, Pansy Division were nevertheless one of the first openly queer bands ever formed.
Reboot Theatre, known best for their all female 1776, is about to open a new musical, and although their Artistic Director Jasmine Joshua has been a familiar face in Seattle for awhile, we wanted a sit-down to talk to her about herself, her company and newest project.
Making yourself heard above the din of a writhing sonic underground isn’t an easy feat. But one artist, queer, pop-rap queen Michete, has done just that, all in a crop-top and a sleek fourteen inches of hair.
If you’ve been a nerd for some time, chances are you’ve heard a story of a woman walking into a comic store and being made to feel uncomfortable or out of place. (Or that story is yours.) Maybe you’re a queer person looking for game experiences and comics that include people like you, stories you can relate to. Possibly you just want to go somewhere and feel included in your game experience, as someone who fits outside the traditional white male audience for gaming.
Drag, French cabaret songs, and pizza are not ideas that usually appear in close proximity to one another, yet somehow, on a Wednesday night, I found myself sitting in Dino’s with Seattle’s premiere drag chanteuse. The world is funny like that.
Matt Wolfe has been a professional actor for over twenty years, and part of the Seattle theatre community since 2003. He has done outstanding work for Showtunes, and was happy to talk about their very original take on Shenandoah running next weekend, with Matt directing.