It’s a way to have the conversation without the heaviness of. For years, the CDC and many medical institutions have been ringing the alarm that Black Southern men who have sex with men are making up the majority of the new cases every year. It’s also a story that is very important to the conversation we need to be having about AIDS and HIV affecting Black Southern people. It’s not something you see on a regular basis. This is a story with so much heart in it. What do you want audiences to take away from this? Yes, there are moments when the audience will see a drag queen come to life. I think a lot of Southern queer people, we dream big, and drag is an easy avenue to get into that - feeling like we are in Hollywood, like we are Diana Ross or Joan Crawford, and getting that sense of pride. can find a sense of safety in these clubs and on the stage where these drag queens can be something other than themselves. ![]() There is a reason this art form has existed for so long and is so intriguing to people. It’s really important for me to show people who may be on the right or the left that drag queens are normal and have dreams and aspirations just like you and me. I talked to the actors every day in rehearsal and told them to bring pieces of themself to their character as opposed to “playing” a drag queen. I really wanted to show the humanity of these drag queens. I took that conversation, and it influenced this production. We had a lot of conversations and a performer - a working drag queen - talked a lot about how that show was hopefully showing people that drag queens are human beings too and humanizing who they are. Right around the time all this was reaching its peak I was actually doing a show at The Warehouse Theatre where I was playing a drag queen. We work together often.Īt a time when drag performers are under attack, along with members of the LGBTQ community, why is this play so vital? We have acted together in college before. We did a reading of this a few years back and I have directed this at Urbanite Theater in Sarasota. We went to Kennesaw State University and I’m from Buena Vista, Georgia, which is near Albany. The year is not specified, but we are playing with around 2012 or 2015.Ĭan you talk about working with playwright Guest? He was a drag queen who passed away from AIDS complications. You learn a little about playwright Terry Guest’s uncle, who the play is inspired by. She uses drag as a mask and a shield and a tool to retell the story of her life and explain how much drag means to her and why it is important. One is Black and one is white, and drag happens to be the caveat for how Courtney is telling the story. It’s a two-hander about two Southern drag queens living with AIDS. ![]() This takes place in a small city: Albany, Georgia. When we think of AIDS plays, we think of “The Normal Heart” or “Angels in America,” where it’s set in this big city. 1 at Out Front Theatre Company, and its impact.ĭamian, what made you want to direct this? Georgia Voice caught up recently with Atlanta-based actor-director Damian Lockhart, seen in the TV series “Atlanta” and the play “Bootycandy” at Actor’s Express, to discuss the work, making its Georgia debut Feb. The show - written by Terry Guest - stars Trajan Clayton as Courtney Berringers/Anthony Knighton and Ben Cole as Vickie Versailles/Hunter Grimes, drag performers in their early 20s who are also living with AIDS. Although it begins with a funeral for one of its characters, the play, “At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen” is billed as more of a celebration than a somber piece.
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