The Attic Youth Center had a day out at the theater last week, and was given a behind-the-scenes chance to interact with the stars of visiting Broadway musical, “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. ” Two-dozen youth members of The Attic Youth Center attended Saturday’s matinee performance of the LGBT-centered show, which was followed by workshops and a talk-back session based around the content and themes of the musical. According to Attic life skills specialist Randy Growshow-Schade, the opportunity was made possible through support from The Broadway League and a partnership with The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. Two-weeks prior to the show, youth from the center developed workshops surrounding the ideas of drag, race and transgender identity. According to Growshow-Schade, the workshops discussed confusion about drag identities and navigated around the conversations of three different types of drag: past, present and future. “It was a huge success,” Growshow-Schade said. “I think one of the biggest things we learned is you cannot put definitions or boundaries on drag because it is constantly evolving and pushing envelopes for gender identities and performances.” The Attic Youth Center last month held its third annual “SweetHearts and RedHots” drag performance event. Growshow-Schade said the center hopes to incorporate what the youth learned last weekend into their future events. The Attic will host a debriefing meeting with youth who attended the show, which will include input from Liberty City Kings Drag and Burlesque, who will discuss the role drag kings have in the performance world. “In ‘Priscilla,’ there was a lot of focus on drag queens and stereotypes within drag,” Growshow-Schade said. “We wanted to reach out to LiCK to work with them and facilitate a conversation with drag kings having more visibility.”
