Vermont Public is independent, community-supported media, serving Vermont with trusted, relevant and essential information. We share stories that bring people together, from every corner of our region. New to Vermont Public? Start here.

© 2024 Vermont Public | 365 Troy Ave. Colchester, VT 05446

Public Files:
WVTI · WOXM · WVBA · WVNK · WVTQ · WVTX
WVPR · WRVT · WOXR · WNCH · WVPA
WVPS · WVXR · WETK · WVTB · WVER
WVER-FM · WVLR-FM · WBTN-FM

For assistance accessing our public files, please contact hello@vermontpublic.org or call 802-655-9451.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

VPR's coverage of arts and culture in the region.

How Vermont's Drag Queens And Kings Are Breaking Drag Stereotypes

Drag queens Nikki Champagne, left, Shani (center), and drag king Trey Goodlay are among a new generation of drag performers playing with gender in novel ways.
James Buck / Kristen Scott / Inner Beauty Photography
Drag queens Nikki Champagne, left, Shani (center), and drag king Trey Goodlay are among a new generation of drag performers playing with gender in novel ways.

Vermont’s drag scene has been around for decades, but now a generation of drag queens and drag kings are breaking stereotypes and finding new ways to play with gender on stage. We're talking about how Vermont's drag scene is evolving with new kinds of drag performances.

Joining Vermont Edition to discuss their approach to drag and performing gender are:

Also featured on the show is part of an interview with Miss Sophia, a cis-gendered female-identifying drag queen who experimented with gender during the popular monthly drag shows at the now-closed gay bar in Dummerston known as the Rainbow Cattle Co. The bar closed in 2005, but photographer Evie Lovett and folklorist Greg Sharrow with the Vermont Folklife Center captured interviews and photographs with the performers for a project called Backstage at the Rainbow Cattle Co.

Those interviews are collected in VT Untapped, the first episode of a new monthly podcast by the Folklife Center.

Broadcast live on Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019 at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.

Jane Lindholm is the host, executive producer and creator of But Why: A Podcast For Curious Kids. In addition to her work on our international kids show, she produces special projects for Vermont Public. Until March 2021, she was host and editor of the award-winning Vermont Public program Vermont Edition.
Matt Smith worked for Vermont Public from 2017 to 2023 as managing editor and senior producer of Vermont Edition.
Latest Stories