GoldiSocks shows drag in Trump’s America

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Courtesy Sam Haines

Musical comedy “GoldiSocks and Her Three Bears’ Fabulous Fairy Tales of Drag,” written by Heather Branham Green, is paying homage to the drag community at the Gorilla Tango Theatre, 1919 N. Milwaukee Ave., until May 26. 

By Kendrah Villiesse

In the original musical comedy “GoldiSocks and Her Three Bears’ Fabulous Fairy Tales of Drag,” Little Red Riding C–t is chased through the forest by the big bad Donald Trump wolf trying to “grab her by the…”

Showing at the Gorilla Tango Theatre, 1919 N. Milwaukee Ave., April 7–May 26, the play features GoldiSocks, her gal pals Autumn O’Shade and Deejay Vonderthrash and her three bears.

“[The show] addresses what it now means to be LGBTQ in Trump’s America and what it means to be a drag queen in this time,” said show director Chris McGriff. “It also addresses what it means to just be human with everything that is going on.”

The production, written by Heather Branham Green, is presented as a talk show hosted by GoldiSocks, with the episode “Fabulous Fairytales of Drag” told through Goldi’s point of view, according to McGriff.

“It is the GoldiSocks hour; it is kind of like Oprah meets Wendy Williams meets ‘The View’ show,” said Vivian Dejour, who plays Autumn O’Shade. “On this particular episode, we are doing two different fairytales. One is of how Autumn became a pageant-winning drag queen while using the story of the ugly duckling.”

McGriff said when casting the show, which stars local drag queens Coco Sho-Nell, Dejour and Kalli Mauri, he was very specific about  his casting choices.

Sho-Nell, who plays GoldiSocks, has been performing drag for seven years after entering the drag scene by accident through a directing company and starting competitions shortly after.

“It was important for us to not cast actors and put them in drag,” McGriff said. “We wanted to honor the craft of drag, so our drag queens are all established [performers] in Chicago.”

McGriff also said “GoldiSocks and Her Three Bears’ Fabulous Tales of Drag,” is open to all ages, so the drag show experience isn’t limited to adults.

“You can come and see it if you are 16 or 18, which opens up the world of drag to a whole new audience,” he said.

McGriff said the play, which was written to pay homage to the drag and LGBTQ community, was originally created to warn people about the election, but was rewritten to focus on what is happening in Trump’s America.

Sho-Nell said performing drag in this show will bring these topics to light while putting a comedic spin on the situation.

“That is something we need right now: to laugh more,” Sho-Nell said. “Everything is so serious. Emotions are high, whether you are on one side or the other. This is a moment where you can just come here and release all of the tension and remember that we are all human.”