Signature Event

Show Me Love: Female Impersonation and Drag in Kansas City

Presented By
Lucas Hilderbrand

Drag became a gay bar staple in the 1960s as a shared audience expression of gay sensibility. While often seen as synonymous with female impersonation, drag is distinct – entailing mostly gay audiences in the context of private parties and bars, as opposed to female impersonation acts for predominantly straight audiences.

In a discussion drawing from his newly published book The Bars Are Ours: Histories and Cultures of Gay Bars in America, 1960 and After, author and scholar Lucas Hilderbrand spotlights two gay establishments on Kansas City’s Troost Avenue in the 1960s: the Jewel Box Lounge and the Colony Bar. He examines how these venues made the differences between drag shows and female impersonation apparent at a time when gay bars were emerging as visible and politicized spaces.

Hilderbrand is a professor and chair of Film and Media Studies at the University of California, Irvine. Although based in Los Angeles, his family hails from Missouri, and Kansas City is a second home town to him.

His presentation is co-presented by the Gay and Lesbian Archive of Mid-America (GLAMA), located within the LaBudde Special Collections at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Watch
This event is co-sponsored by: Gay and Lesbian Archive of Mid-America
Upcoming in this series:
Watch or Listen to Past Events in this Series:
Sunday, February 26, 2023 2:00pm
Lawrence, Kansas, photographer Ann Dean discusses the impact and inspiration found in three seminal books – The Learning Tree, A Choice of Weapons, and Half Past Aut...
9
Feb
The Dizzy and Daffy Dean Barnstorming Tour: Race, ...
Central Library |
2:00pm
2
Apr
Nelly Don: Labor, Unionization, and Community on t...
Central Library |
2:00pm
14
Apr
Janssen Place: A Unique Kansas City Neighborhood
Central Library |
2:00pm
1
May
Engineered Irony: Octave Chanute’s Kansas City Bri...
Central Library |
2:00pm
Signature Event

Show Me Love: Female Impersonation and Drag in Kansas City

Date & Location
-
Helzberg Auditorium
Online
In Person