Alice Dee, a drag performer, accepts a tip Friday night from an audience member at “God Save the Queens,” a drag show in Norway.
NORWAY — Norway was visited by queens Friday night.
House Lorax, a new art collective on Main Street, premiered Norway’s first drag show, “God Save the Queens.”
Five performers graced the stage: Ophelia Johnson, Jacinda “The Body,” Marylin Morgans, Gigi Gabor and host, Alice Dee.
According to Jacinda, each queen brings a different dynamic to the stage.
“Everybody brings something different to the table,” Jacinda said. “When you come to a local show, you never know what you’re going to get.”
About 20 people attended the show. According to Gabor, bringing drag events to small-town Maine is important.
“It’s really cool that we can come to places that don’t have drag a lot and do it,” Gabor said. “A lot of people now are hearing about drag and are willing to come to a show, but can’t drive to Portland or Lewiston.”
Jessica Cooper, administrative assistant at House Lorax, said that while drag shows are not common in the region, the show was an opportunity for Norway to build a tolerant and inclusive arts community.
“Many of us who are focusing our creative work in Norway want to support other art forms, and certainly the marginalized ones,” she said.
“Drag is unfamiliar. While it’s new to some folks, it has been an important part of cultural resistance for hundreds and hundreds of years.”
According to Jacinda, drag’s popularity has recently been bolstered by the popular “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” a reality television show that follows prospective drag queens as they vie to win the competition.
“We have to bring local drag to the people so they aren’t just relying on ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race,'” Jacinda said. “I don’t want drag to become a dying art, if all the young are just seeing it on TV.”
Gabor said bringing drag to places that do not normally see it helps LGBTQ people feel included.
“Four years ago, me and some other girls did Bar Harbor’s first Pride,” Gabor said. “It was very similar. There was nothing really around, and different people in the town embraced us.
“The queer community said, ‘You gave us the space to just be gay in a place where the closest gay bar is three hours away.’ It’s a really killer feeling.”
According to Cooper, drag could happen again at House Lorax.
“We fully intend on hosting more unique art and cultural events of this nature in the future,” Cooper said.
And the queens said they would be glad to return to Norway.
“It would be great for everybody’s mind to expand,” Jacinda said. “Without local drag, I think they get a one-sided view of how drag works.”
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