The most worthy movement of note is the establishment of Hot Metal Hardware, Pittsburgh’s newest gender performance troupe, which is made up mostly of drag kings. HMH produces monthly drag shows on First Fridays at Cattivo/ Sotto, and their performers can often be seen at other events around the city. Last October, they appeared in the showcase at the 12th International Drag King Extravaganza, which happened to be in Baltimore. As faithful Pittsburghers, HMH waved Terrible Towels all over town. HMH also traveled to Columbus at the end of January to perform and raise funds in Miz Ginger’s Annual Mystery Box. “HMH is a family of gender performers brought together by common goals,” says Orion Blaze Browne, Pittsburgh native and HMH co-founder. “It is also a support system, where we can be ourselves and come up with ways to better the community through performances.” HMH has a couple of kings who portray both masculine and feminine characters, one of which
is Trista von Tease AKA Evan Danger. “Trista von Tease is an evil temptress from the twenties, leaving charmed and/or dead men in her wake,” she says, “while Evan Danger is an over-confident, hopelessly flamboyant gay man.” Another HMH co-founder and Pitt undergrad, Dylan Dickhersoon, is also the vice president of Pitt’s Rainbow Alliance and a producer of their recent Annual Pitt Drag Show. “I’m sure everyone is going to say something terribly serious here,” he says, “but my favorite things about HMH are the things that happen off stage — the conversations in the dressing room, the inside jokes and latenight musings.”
“I am really excited to see the revitalization of the community happening throughout the city, and that people are coming together to create these spaces for gender performance and exploration,” says Lyndsey Sickler, owner of Mr Pittsburgh Pride. “I can’t wait to see what happens here in the next year, with all of this momentum behind drag and gender performance.” For more information on Hot Metal Hardware, check out facebook.com/hotmetalhardwarepgh. J.J. Cox runs his own production company, Kingdom Come. For event listings, check out facebook.com/kingdomcomepgh.
It doesn’t end there! Keeping it real in Western PA are drag kings D Bangher Browne and Kevaughn Browne. Kevaughn recently won the title Mr. WOW Wednesdays at The Link and performs there quite regularly. The duo can also be found at Longbada’s Lounge in Greensburg.
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