[Image description: A rectangular graphic with a white background. The Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center logo is in the upper left corner. Below are two speech bubble icons. The left one is black with rainbow details fashioned to look like a film reel. The right one has a black border with black and purple that reads "Reel Queer Film Series." A film cover is to the right. The title "A Drag King Extravaganza" is in the lower portion of the cover in red text. The book cover is a black and white photograph of a white person with blonde hair wearing formal attire standing outside of a limousine. Black text underneath reads “October 13.” Centered on the graphic are rainbow film strips of various lengths with event details underneath.]
The Reel Queer Film Series at Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center presents free screenings of LGBTQ-themed independent, arthouse, and documentary films! Talkbacks follow each screening. All of the films we screen are not rated higher than PG-13.
The film screenings are held in person and virtually on the 2nd Thursdays at 6 p.m. Join us October 13th at 6pm to watch and discuss A Drag King Extravaganza with guest speaker Leo Monroe (he/him) who is a local drag king.
What is a drag king? What is the Drag King Conference? Simply speaking, a drag king is a woman who dresses in a male persona for theatrical purposes. A Drag King Extravaganza, however, reveals that being a drag king is not so simple. Created in 2008, this documentary examines the preceding 10 years, wherein this performance art exploded into a complex and fascinating movement; one that centralizes around an annual drag king conference called the International Drag King Community Extravaganza (IDKE). Within this conference, gender, sexuality, race, and ability are explored through in-depth discussions and provocative performances.
This documentary provides a reflexive look at “what is a drag king,” but, more importantly, the personal journeys inside the conference. Interviewees include Christopher Noe, Kentucky Fried Woman, Mel Corn, Deb “Dirk” Pearce, Flare, Julie “Jake” Applegate, Toe B, Sile Luster / Lustivious Dela Virgion, Erin Tarr, Big Papa, Ken Vegas, Dante DiFranco, and many more.
The Reel Queer Film Series is supported in part by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency, through the Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts (PPA), its regional arts funding Partnership. State government funding comes through an annual appropriation by Pennsylvania’s General Assembly and from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. PPA is administered in this region by PPA Partner Lehigh Valley Community Foundation.
Funding has been provided in part by PA Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
