Page 31 - ARUBA TODAY

PEOPEL & ARTS Monday 6 March 2017
A31

Documentary explores drag scene in city of the U.S. heartland

ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS Levitt, started performing in
Associated Press drag after graduating from
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Denison University in cen-
Filmmaker Gabrielle Burton tral Ohio.
says she didn’t plan for her Today, under the stage
documentary about the name Nina West, Levitt
drag scene in Ohio’s capi- does shows in Columbus
tal city to achieve wider and elsewhere four to five
distribution at a time of po- days a week, on top of a
litical and cultural division. day job in social media
But becoming comfort- marketing.
able with complex subjects Levitt, 38, who is gay, says
is something everyone he aims to be both enter-
needs at the moment, Bur- taining and to serve an
ton says. LGBT activist when he’s on-
“Kings, Queens, & In-Be- stage.
tweens” had screenings in “My role is really to be both
Columbus and New York an escape, and a voice,”
last Friday and becomes Levitt said.
available on iTunes, Ama- Burton runs “Five Sisters Pro-
zon and some cable pro- ductions” with her four re-
viders next week. al-life sisters. The company
The film profiles eight drag has made other documen-
performers and their com- taries and feature films,
panies in Columbus, which including 2002’s “Manna
has long had a reputation from Heaven” with Shirley
as a gay-friendly town, in- Jones and Cloris Leach-
cluding one of the coun- man. An unproduced
try’s biggest Pride festivals. In this Wednesday, March 1, 2017, photo, filmmaker Gabrielle Burton discusses the making of her screenplay, “The Sky’s The
“If it exists here, you know documentary, “Kings, Queens & In-Betweens,” profiling the drag queen scene in Ohio’s capital Limit,” focuses on the 13
that it’s going to be pres- city, Columbus, Ohio. Associated Press women tested to be astro-
ent everywhere,” Burton nauts in 1961.
said. cates. weighing a bill that would drag performers. The peo- Burton says her goal is tell-
The film hadn’t been re- Some states are consider- protect ministers who re- ple Burton profiles include ing stories that give people
leased yet when the U.S. ing so-called “religious ex- fuse to perform gay wed- men performing as women, hope for change but are
Supreme Court in 2015 le- emption” laws that would dings. women performing as men, also entertaining. She lives
galized gay marriage in all allow some businesses and Everything going on now women and men perform- in suburban Delaware near
50 states. Last year, Presi- civil servants to refuse ser- “kind of shows even more ing with exaggerated femi- Columbus with her hus-
dent Barack Obama in- vices to LGBT people if their how much engagement ninity and masculinity, and band and two children.
structed public schools to decisions were deemed to the film can do and how transgender performers “These movies each have
allow transgender students be based on religious be- important that is,” Burton who don’t always consider a sense of, ‘That people
to use bathrooms and lock- lief. said. their performance drag. are good people and
er rooms that correspond In Ohio, a committee in the The film is unique in its ex- One of the people fea- the world can be a good
to their gender identity. GOP-controlled House is amination of a variety of tured in the movie, Andrew place,’” Burton said.q
These developments led
Burton to joke that her film
might become obsolete. Another award for Viola Davis:
Then, President Donald
Trump’s election raised Harvard ‘Artist of the Year’
concerns in the LGBT com-
munity that some civil rights CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — and Television Arts awards
could be rolled back. Fresh from her best support- for her portrayal of Rose
Trump rescinded Obama’s ing actress Oscar win for Maxson in the film adapta-
transgender bathroom her role in “Fences,” Viola tion of “Fences,” an August
order last month. That re- Davis is at Harvard Universi- Wilson play.
sulted in a mixed message, ty to receive the 2017 Artist Davis also won a Tony
since in January the White of the Year Award from the Award for the 2010 Broad-
House released a state- Harvard Foundation. way revival of the play.
ment declaring Trump Davis is attending the Cul- Previous winners of the Har-
would enforce an Obama tural Rhythms Festival on vard award include Quincy
administration order bar- Saturday. She briefly came Jones, Andy Garcia, Matt
ring workplace discrimina- on stage before taking a Damon, Salma Hayek and
tion on the basis of sexual seat to watch a series of Shakira.q
identity. cultural musical perfor-
Elsewhere, efforts have mances by students.
stalled in North Carolina to In addition to the Oscar, In this Feb. 26, 2017 file photo,
repeal that state’s “bath- Davis received the Critics’ Viola Davis poses in the press
room bill,” which requires Choice, Golden Globe, room at the Oscars at the Dol-
transgender people to use Screen Actors Guild, and by Theatre in Los Angeles.
restrooms in public build- British Academy of Films Associated Press
ings that correspond to
the sex on their birth certifi-