Melbourne drag queen visits Cardinia Cultural Centre

Garfield's Lynne Brady and Lia Van Diemen said they too wanted to dress up like drag queens for the night. 235479_02 Photos: SHELBY BROOKS

By Shelby Brooks

A Melbourne drag queen and contestant on the Stan Australia TV show RuPaul’s Drag Race was the guest of honour at CPAC Musical Theatre’s opening night of Priscilla Queen of the Desert.

Karen from Finance met fans before and after the show, dazzling in a beautiful pink sequin dress.

With a big personality and even bigger hair, Karen from Finance made an impression on the young and the old.

Producer and CPAC founder Lee Geraghty taught Karen for year 7 maths at St John’s Regional College Dandenong.

Karen said she was thrilled community theatre was taking on productions like the iconic drag show, Priscilla.

“People usually associate drag, and even sometimes with the queer community, with being in the cities and the centralised hubs, but queer people are everywhere, the LGBTQIA+ community is everywhere,” Karen said.

“I think it’s really important for community groups to be presenting shows like Priscilla because the more activations like this, that we can have wide spread in the community, the more recognition the community is going to get and the more safe the community is going to feel and the better represented they’re going to feel.

“It’s so cool that something like Priscilla is happening, not just out in the city but in the suburbs as well.

“My gosh, if I had when I was little while I was playing all the sports and trying to find something to do with my life, if Priscilla the musical was an option back then, that would have been life changing, so it’s really cool that it’s happening now.”