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'Glitz' welcomes beginning drag kings and queens to the stage in renovated Aurora Grand Theater
- Jasz Garrett
- 5 minutes ago
- 4 min read
‘Out loud and proud’ show creates safe environment for LGBTQ+ community, fundraises
By Jasz Garrett
Juneau Independent
“Glitz,” Juneau’s annual drag extravaganza, closed Pride Month with three sold-out shows at the newly renovated Aurora Grand Theater last weekend.
More than $7,000 was raised to benefit the downtown rainbow crosswalk’s annual repainting and the theater’s ongoing renovation. The rainbow crosswalk, freshly repainted this June, is funded entirely through individual donations.
“We had an opportunity through ‘Glitz’ to donate and to give back, and so we decided that'll be getting some of the funds raised this year,” said Gigi Monroe, the event organizer and longtime Juneau drag queen.
“Glitz” brought together 15 LGBTQ+ drag artists and for some, it was their first time.
“Gigi and all the drag people are like super welcoming, and it's amazing how she's creating opportunities for new performers, and then she's also styling me a wig to wear,” said Ava Meade/Miss Cado after rehearsal Wednesday.
Performers rehearsed on their own until a week before the event’s opening, when they practiced the group finale together.
Meade said her first drag performance was last May through an amateur show, and she started because she did musical theater and dance growing up.
“I was missing performing and I love drag queens,” she said. “I definitely have learned about myself that I'm not much of an improver, so I do need to have almost everything I'm gonna do planned out, especially like when it comes to interacting with the audience.”
It was a packed house at the theater Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Meade said it was exciting to see Juneau’s queer people and allies gathering to have fun. She also celebrated Pride Month with a pub crawl and Pride picnic at Sandy Beach.
It was Steven Arends/Anjelickya Balls first time performing in “Glitz” too. He made a Barbie wearable dollhouse from scratch and his routine was inspired by Sabrina Carpenter’s hit pop song “House Tour.” Arends’ first drag show was this February.
“I just wanted to do something totally crazy and over the top,” he said. “I wasn't doing this for ‘Glitz,’ I was just doing it on my own, hoping to do it at some point for a show, and then got invited to do ‘Glitz,’ and I was like, great.”
Arends said his friend Dear Evan Handsome, a fellow Juneau drag king, encouraged him to perform. He now has a drag studio with 60 pieces of clothing. “Glitz” was his fourth drag performance ever.
Monroe said it was emotional to see the past year’s amateur group from Juneau Drag shows join the main cast. She offers newcomers guidance on costuming, staging and choreography.
“It’s very moving to me because I just have gotten so much out of this art form in my life, and to see brand new people coming in and getting the same excitement and joy from it — it just makes me so happy,” she said. “It's an art form that changes over time, and they're bringing fresh energy into it, and their own ideas and their own expressions of what it means to be a king or a queen or something outside of those two boxes, which is fantastic.”
Monroe said this year, “Glitz” felt different for another reason.
“Because of the increasing tension in our environment and atmosphere, both politically, socially — I think everyone's feeling more pressure, and the capacity to work extra and do these really big productions isn't there this year, right?” she said. “Like, we did a lot of rehearsal, and we brought together people from all over Southeast last year, and we just didn't have the capacity to do that this year. We're just really trying to be mindful of people taking care of themselves first and foremost, and putting on the best show that we have the capacity for, and I think we struck a really good balance.”
Her opening solo song was “When That Man Is Dead and Gone” by Irving Berlin. Monroe said drag gives her a way to be more courageous and have a platform, especially when it comes to political statements.
“It’s important to get that comment on that and recognize the world that we're in right now,” Monroe said. “We recognize that and we can still have a show that's really fun and that's really joyous and we just recognize this is the space we’re in.”
Monroe said it took about 40 crew members total to put together this past weekend’s show, including management of ticketing, backstage help, lighting, sound and merch. Along with the Juneauite kings and queens, performers also came from Anchorage and Chicago. The special guest was drag queen Aria B. Cassadine, a finalist on RuPaul’s show, "Queen of the Universe."
More than 300 people attended in total. Monroe said “Glitz” this year was the “out loud and proud energy we need more than ever.”
“It’s a response to the pressure to be smaller and quieter,” she said. “I think there's a message, certainly from the right, that people need to either be more private or not exist, and so in response, understandably, I think a lot of LGBTQ people are pulling back.”
Monroe said drag is hopefully a space where people don’t feel the need to do that.
“That's part of why we try to create just a whole environment from the second somebody walks in the door until they leave where they can feel fully themselves,” she said. “It’s not always safe for people to be out loud and proud on their own.”
• Contact Jasz Garrett at jasz@juneauindependent.com or (907) 723-9356.
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