BETHEL — “Is this Bethel’s first ride ever? Now that is history in the making! Can I get an Amen?,” asks Drag Queen Chartreuse Money on Thursday at the Gem Theatre.

Bethel’s first Pride Day was sold out. The theatre was so crowded for the drag show that several young people had to sit on the floor in front of the stage to open up seats for adults.

It was a lively crowd. Money, and fellow drag stars, Tasha Tektite, and KK Hollandaise, sang and danced to applause and laughter. Songs from The Little Mermaid; “I’m a Believer,” from Shrek; a song from High School Musical and others were enthusiastically received.

Between acts, Money adds color, “Drag shows are a little like a religious experience. For the next hour or so you’re going to worship us, you’re going to love us, you’re going to tell us we’re beautiful… Does anyone love getting a compliment out there? I love that checkered top you have on. You look so slay, so diva… Make some noise over here, how bout over here? … calm down, gosh.”

Keaton Cummings-Chapman, 17, of Bethel wanted to hold a Bethel Pride Day last summer, but realized it would be too hard to pull off without more time to plan. “All [last] summer I researched. We worked on it all school year. It’s my little baby,” he said of the event.

Telstar Advisors’ Lindsay Smith and Kristen Powell helped with the event. So did Rising seniors, Ella Hopps and Vee Hooper, along with recent graduates Ryan Nivus, and MJ Johanson.  “Our first priority was to get queer vendors,” said Chapman, of the crafters and artists selling jewelry, watercolors and more in the crowded lobby before the drag show. Other patrons had their faces painted. The Gem staff sold pizza, popcorn and drinks.

Admission was, “pay what you can.” The money they raised from admission and from their raffle will go toward next year’s pride event, already in the works.

Following the G-rated drag show at  5:30 p.m. they played a free movie called, “Breakfast with Scott.”

Justice Pittman of Hanover was in the lobby with her daughter Wren, 4. She said she was pleasantly surprised that there were no protesters, as there have been in New Hampshire and other states. Pittman and her sister brought their mother who was ambivalent about coming. They hoped to change her mind about drag shows.

Another patron, Linda Ainslie of Newry and Naples, FL. sat in the front row. She came to see  Chartreuse Money. “I’ve seen him on RuPaul’s Drag Race. … it’s just fabulous. I love to see them behind the scenes getting ready and they are talented people, extremely talented. I have four daughters, one is gay… I think [this event] is wonderful, to support these people.

“We’re down in Florida, the backlash down there is ridiculous with DeSantis. They don’t change just because they are gay or transgender. They are still the same people inside.” She said [before her daughter came out] a friend  asked her what she would do if she found out her son or daughter was gay. “I will tell you what you’d do, you’d love them,” was Ainslie’s reply.

On stage, Money is saying, “It takes a lot of brave to get up here and look like this… I need you all to be ready to scream, to yell, to have fun, to laugh, to maybe cry, I don’t know.”

Drag Queen, Tasha Tektite performs at Bethel’s first Pride Day 2023 held at the Gem Theatre Rose Lincoln/Bethel Citizen

Starting with a five dollar bill from a youngster named, “Benny” the trio received tips galore.

“Does anyone here like to dress up?… It’s so hard to think about the future, right? What do I want to be when I grow up? …There is no time limit on finding out who you really are. That’s what Pride is all about… For instance, I was 23 when I decided I like to dress up and now it’s my job! … Let’s hear it for supportive families,” says Money.

Talking about growing up in Bethel, Keaton-Chapman said it was hard not fitting in to any particular crowd. “When you’re really different, the Bethel norm, it is harder to find your ‘in.’ When I found it, it felt so small and niche. I wanted to carve out more of a space for everybody to be there and be accepted and happy and feel good in Bethel.”

He is heading to Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts where he felt, “at home right away.” He’ll study political science and creative writing; he hopes to be a civil rights lawyer and work with activists to, “make sure there’s change going in the right direction.”

Intermission is almost over and Money is sitting on the edge of the stage ad-libbing to kill five minutes. When a third grader named Thea says she is from Woodstock, Money says, “I heard you had a really fun party there in the sixties.”

Later, as the show winds down, Money says,  “If you feel inclined to dance, you may dance with me. Just look out, o.k. because I’m going to be running around like a rocket.  The last thing I want to wake up to tomorrow morning on the front page of the Bethel Times or whatever it is, ‘Chartreuse Money accused of running over these five children at the drag show in the movie theatre. She is currently at the Bethel Jail and no bond, no bail.'”

The dancing gets started by Money with help from a medley by Dua Lipa.

Before the dancing, Money had said, “I hope this will be the first ‘Pride’ of many Bethel prides to come. First a movie theatre drag show. Next a parade. If anyone from the press is here don’t quote me on that.”

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