New Hope Celebrates History is presenting “Drag Royalty” as part of its continuing Artists and Authors LGBTQ+ Speaker Series. The video premieres Wednesday, April 6, at noon, and will be available anytime on New Hope Celebrates History’s YouTube channel.
For the past 50 years, New Hope has boasted a talented list of drag performers, including Tinsel Garland, Danee Russo, Monica Rey, Ricky Paris, Pumpkin, Berrie Lyndon and more.
Guests speakers will be Domenick Scudera, MFA (aka Summer Clearance), Gary Schneider (aka Gary Christ) and Kevin Gilmore (aka Phoebe Manntrappe), who will discuss the origins of drag as performance art and how it took root in New Hope. Summer Clearance is a theater professor and will discuss the history of drag as an art form. Gary Christ will talk about New Hope’s drag community in the 1970s and 1980s and Phoebe Manntrappe will share more recent drag events, such as the national Drag Queen Story Hour program.
The video was shot on location at 1740 House in Lumberville.
