The Queer Ethereal: Hybrid Forms and the Making of a Drag Queen

Abstract

I came to drag through theatre practice. I am a trained playwright and together with my husband, Cameron Mackenzie, I run Zee Zee Theatre, a company with a mandate to share intimate and human stories, with a focus on amplifying voices from the margins. Over the years I have been working continuously to bring my drag and theatre practices closer and closer together with drag-theatre hybrids appearing in our company's season as well as club events featuring drag artists. In this article I reflect on my personal history as a theatre artist, producer, and drag performer. From this vantage point, I consider the multitude of ways that drag and theatre intersect and have enriched my own artistic practices. Bringing together diverse audiences and artists from the worlds of theatre, drag, and queer club nights, I have been privileged to witness the incredible power of collaboration between these groups. More recently, as a queer parent, I’ve seen how theatre and drag can merge to carve out new and exciting ways to bring queer performance to the ever expanding audiences of queer families. This article traces these experiences and stands as a testament to the generative power of collaboration between drag and theatre.