The Office had been one of the main venues for drag shows. Mitchell described the low of the drag scene occurring when entertainers employed by The Office walked out of work due to mismanagement and drama within the company. Still, it was mostly contained to gay bars and LGBT-affiliated venues, but the seeds of a great empire were started.Ī bar on Wright Street, then known as The Office, was one such place you could go to see a drag show. Going into the early 1990s, more and more bars began offering drag shows. Soon enough, the national market caught onto the trend, with Pensacola being no different. More and more performers rose into prominence and performances were common enough to gain significant attention. In New York City, the late 1980s saw a drastic increase in the public appearance of drag queens.
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There wasn’t enough of a market for anyone to make a career out of doing drag, yet. Being a drag queen was a hobby or a job at best in Pensacola. Only a few of them would host drag shows, meaning often times there were more performers than shows. In the 1980s, Pensacola had several small gay bars. While neither Card nor Mitchell can claim to have been the first drag queens in the city, the drag scene in Pensacola doesn’t quite reach back to the Globe Theatre. Emerald City became the heart of drag while it was open, but it certainly wasn’t the first and only place you could stop in to cheer on the lovely queens of Pensacola. Between the “Big Five” arts organizations, the support of local artists at events like Gallery Night and more eccentric support such as Graffiti Pizza’s graffiti wall, it’s no wonder there’s been a place for drag shows in the city. It’s helped me find a little passion in my life, to be creating something, making people smile while I’m having a good time.”Įntertainment and art in Pensacola have always been an eclectic and thriving market. “Some of that has transitioned into my life I’ve gotten a lot more confident in myself. “When I’m in drag, I feel a lot more confident, and I feel like I look cooler in general,” she said. Her act and her costumes makes this a bit easier for her. Typically an introvert, when she’s on stage and performing, she has to be an extrovert. She said part of the appeal of dressing in drag is how it makes her feel. Just as a musician may cite a love of music as her reason for performing, drag queens can find a love of themselves and a want to express themselves in their art.Īlthough a relative newcomer, Terrah Card has been performing professionally since 2017. Part of their act can be rooted in something deeper than just feeling a need to entertain. If you’re doing something that is entertaining a crowd and you’re getting paid for it, you’re an entertainer.”Īs entertainers, drag queens use the theatrics of their costumes, make up and acts, whether it be lip synch battles or comedy skits, to perform for an audience. “Entertainers encompass everything from street mimes to rock musicians to poetry slams down at Sluggo’s. “You’re on stage, you’re entertaining,” Mitchell said. Instead, 30-plus-year drag queen veteran Lauren Mitchell describes her work as just that – work. Although drag queens are often associated with gay culture, not all queens are gay men, and not all gay men participate in drag. Nowadays, drag queens have taken up a slightly different role, but their roots are still in the theatrics.
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Who knew Shakespeare would lead to such a great party? Male actors would portray female roles where their long dresses would “drag” along the ground. It’s changing, but it’s growing,” Paul Dye, owner of The Cabaret bar on Jefferson Street, said, and in the past few years, he’s seen that change happen.ĭrag queens can trace their origins back to Shakespearean times, when female actors were not allowed to perform on stage. “Other people contact us here because it’s growing. The truth is, nothing’s going out of style.
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Without a central location for everyone to flock to, it seemed drag was going out of style. Nowadays, the drag scene in Pensacola feels a little scattered. The entertainers who put on the best parties in town? They were the drag queens that ruled the stage. Then, three years ago, the bar closed its doors for good and the roar of the shows faded away. Inside, a stage rose up over the crowd, entertainers would host some of the most extravagant shows you could see in Pensacola. It was a bar that took up “the entire block” and was a popular destination for anyone and everyone looking to have a good time. Once upon a time, one of the best parties in town was held in a huge white building on Wright Street.