The Little Pageant That Could is a compelling new documentary on how a few friends in West Hollywood spontaneously got together in the middle of the AIDS Crisis to help the community survive the pandemic in the best way it could . And that was by creating L.A.’s Best in Drag Show which started as a spur-of-the-moment spoof of Miss America thrown by a few twenty-something friends in a tiny West Hollywood apartment in 1990, that grew to become L.A.’s longest-running drag benefit that would end up raising over $6 million to help those living with HIV/AIDS. It was at a time when people with AIDS were abandoned by society, politicians, and even their own families. But it was also one of the first times in the burgeoning queer community”s history that we used power, passion and energy to take charge of our own destiny .
Now in 2024 when legislation is being passed to restrict the art form, this film bears witness to the power of drag to make a meaningful – and desperately needed – contribution to society.
The Little Pageant That Could is directed by John Carlos Frey, who also served as the stage show’s original director and he has included a wealth of outrageously funny, never-before-seen footage spanning the pageant’s 33-year history. Its not just an inspiring story about the power of drag,, but a tribute to all those men (and women) who were selfless motivated to help those in our community live as long as they could and with dignity.
Frey has said “Those that choose to criminalize this sacred form of queer expression should be the first to line up and watch The Little Pageant That Could, and maybe they would find that drag saves lives and heals hearts.”
On the eve of the movie’s premiere at Provincetown Film Festival QUEERGURU got to talk with director John Carlos Frey about the film, and the story behind it …… and also asked him to refund the 2 boxes of tissues my husband and I got through when we watched the doc.
OUTSTANDING: A COMEDY REVOLUTION is probably the most joyous celebration of the queer community we will see on our screens this Pride Month. Directed by filmmaker/comedian Page Hurwitz, the producing partner of queer comic Wanda Sykes, this Netflix documentary very incisively explores the contributions that stand up comics have made to the growth and recognition of the LGBTQ+ community over the years.
With the help of an unprecedented array of some extraordinary talented queer comedians, Hurwitz allows her cast to share their stories about how their personal and professional ‘coming outs’ shaped their work. Which in turn shaped how our community evolved.
QUEERGURU has already talked with Joel Kim Booster one of the many queer comics in the film and now we caught up with Page when the film was being screened at Provincetown Film Festival The film is due to be released in Netflix on June 18th You can read Queerguru’s full review HERE ..
By his own admission ERIC PRICE discovered his passion and talent for painting late (ish) in life when he and his husband moved to Provincetown on the tip of Cape Cod, It not only has a well earned reputation for being an artist’s colony but also a very substantial welcoming queer community which proved to be a perfect haven for NY resident Price after 9/11.
Not one for doing things by halves, Price, an ex publisher, went back to school to get a Masters in Fine Arts from the New York Academy of Art in 2019. He told Queerguru. “a large part ofhis studio practice is to paint en plein air. It allows me to express the emotional freedom I feel in nature. I strive to capture light, color, and texture that connects me to my environment. I have been inspired by the American Impressionists as well as such artists as Joaquín Sorolla, Henry Scott Tuke, John Henry Twachtman, Edwin Dickinson, John Koch, and Walter Stuempfig”
Queerguru caught up with him on the eve OF MOMENTS IN THE SUN his new solo exhibit at Greg Salvatori Gallery in PTown. Salvatori, a queer artist, is also Price’s Agent
OUTSTANDING: A COMEDY REVOLUTION is probably the most joyous celebration of the queer community we will see on our screens this Pride Month. Directed by filmmaker/comedian Paige Hurwitz, the producing partner of queer comic Wanda Sykes, this Netflix documentary very incisively explores the contributions that stand up comics have made to the growth and recognition of the LGBTQ+ community over the years.
With the help of an unprecedented array of some extraordinary talented queer comedians, Hurwitz allows her cast to share their stories about how their personal and professional ‘coming outs’ shaped their work. Which in turn shaped how our community evolved.
Jo Clifford is an award-winning British writer, performer, poet and teacher based in Edinburgh. She is a prolific writer having some 150 plays under her belt, but the one that has attracted most attention (and notoriety) is The Gospel According To Jesus, Queen of Heaven. The play features Jesus as a trans woman is and was one of the first in the UK to be written by and starring a trans person.
Clifford has said that the play had begun her social gender transition, where she was “encountering hatred on the street from people shouting abuse at me, saying horrible things, laughing at me. I wondered where this hatred came from. I’d read the Gospels, and when I read them I was profoundly moved. I had been brought up as a Christian and taught that when you’re unsure of what to do, you should try to think, ‘What would Jesus do?’ I thought, ‘Well, what would Jesus do if Jesus came back to earth now and was me, a trans woman? What would she do and what would she say?’ That was the origin of the play.” In Out of the Ordinary: Representations of LGBT Lives, Clifford spoke about the abuse she experienced, connecting it to what she saw as harsh prohibitions against transgender and gender variant individuals in the Old Testament of the Bible.
Since Clifford first performed the play in Glasgow in 2009 she has encountered great resistance from Theaters leaving her to perform in churches like St Marys of The Harbor in Provincetown one of the most diverse and welcoming towns in the US. Its where QUEERGURU caught up with her…. full of good humor , and so much love for our community …..it was a sheer joy learning more about her work and her life
Author queerguruPosted on Categories queerguru.tv
