A Stage for Change

Les Femmes Mystiques drag troupe

The Origins and Evolution of TBay’s Drag Scene

By Sidney Ulakovic

Did you know the city’s drag roots trace all the way to the iconic Parliament House Resort in Orlando?

As a teenager, Thunder Bay local Gia Brunetti-Provenzano left home and moved to Orlando, where she stayed in a room at the Parliament House, a gay resort established in the 70s that hosted tonnes of notable drag performers over the years—but at this time, it was where a lot of performers got their start. “It was probably about a month and a half, two months after that [the club entertainment director, Miss P] finally let me perform for the first time,” Brunetti-Provenzano says. “After that, I knew that was where I needed to be.”

Brunetti-Provenzano moved back to Thunder Bay in the 1980s, bringing what she learned about show business back with her. “We were having monthly socials for the gays of Thunder Bay,” Brunetti-Provenzano says. “And because I had performed in Orlando, we just started to do shows [at the socials], a friend of mine and myself, and we were the first drag queens here.” According to Brunetti-Provenzano, there were one or two bars that hosted drag performers at the time, but a lot of the city’s drag performers would leave for opportunities in metropolitan areas with more established queer entertainment. “The gay scene was very hidden [in Thunder Bay]. So it was kind of like an underground type of thing.”

In an effort to keep drag in town, Brunetti-Provenzano opened Backstreet in 1995, which was located on Cumberland Street. “It was like stepping into Studio 54,” Brunetti-Provenzano says. “It was just like whatever, whoever you were, whatever you wanted to do. It was just our own little world.” There, Brunetti-Provenzano performed alongside a troupe called Les Femmes Mystiques, who delivered theatrical performances on larger-than-life theme nights and gave rise to local drag legend Paloma Marquez.

“I was notoriously known for being unclockable,” says Collin Graham (a.k.a. Paloma Marquez), who began performing at Backstreet in the late 90s. “Back then, it was more about giving the illusion of female impersonation and maintaining the illusion.” Graham says the artistry of wig styling, makeup application, and costume design were critical skills passed down from drag mothers to their daughters, and that what made a great performance was a balance of delivering emotion and comedy, and making a statement. “Drag for me was always a protest," Graham says. “It was about claiming queer identity. It was about changing the narrative of what masculinity meant.”    

Backstreet eventually fell on hard times and reopened as the Voodoo Lounge, where the city was introduced to Lady Fantasia LaPrèmiere. John Forget Maheux (a.k.a. Lady Fantasia LaPrèmiere), recalls working at the Voodoo Lounge as a server in the early 2000s when they were celebrating a university Pride event and staff were encouraged to work in drag that night. “I’d never done it, so I had hair extensions, a bandana—I looked like a pirate,” Forget Maheux laughs. “And so I did ‘I Wanna be Bad’ by Willa Ford [...] I went from being bullied John to I’m gay, I’m here, I’m queer. Watch out.”  

Lady Fantasia LaPrèmiere

The Voodoo Lounge burned down in 2004, and Forget Maheux shifted gears and started opening for a local shock rock band, of which eventual drag show promoter Jimmy Wiggins was a member. “It did really well. And we did it again,” Wiggins says, adding that people began approaching him asking how they could get involved. “It just kind of kept growing and growing.” 

Wiggins, who is endearingly referred to in his circle as the Drag Dealer, says his favourite performers to work with aren’t afraid to push boundaries.“No one that we really work with ever passes like a woman in their drag,” Wiggins says. “Especially [in the beginning], a lot of the performers we were working with were very alternative, like Club Kids. Stuff was messy and political. None of it was like typical, traditional drag.”  

With the Emmy award-winning television show RuPaul’s Drag Race becoming such a staple in popular culture over the last decade, the local drag scene also experienced a massive influx of interest, and with drag’s new mainstream appeal, audiences began to diversify as well. “I think more people know about drag, are more curious about it,” Forget Maheux says. “More people are in a position to accept themselves and explore their own identity.” Wiggins adds this shift can be seen onstage as well. “Before it was very underground, almost like for just queer people,” Wiggins says. “And now I think that space is seen as a place that people want to be a part of.” 

As for what’s in store, the pillars of Thunder Bay’s drag scene say that anything is possible. While Brunetti-Provenzano has since retired from performing, she now manages both local and national drag talent through her company Pink Mafia Productions, and continues to organize shows. The queens and kings of Wiggins Productions regularly perform throughout town, and even tour the region. Although drag is not without its own set of challenges and misconceptions amidst the current sociopolitical climate, they say it’s here to stay. “Drag just changes with the world,” Forget Maheux says.”It’s just all about having fun—and knowing your words when you’re lip syncing onstage.”