Seattle Gay News
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Issue 06, Volume 41, February 8, 2013
photos by Nate Gowdy, Jen DeLeo, and jimmy malecki
by Gaysha Starr Special to the SGN When the opportunity to share my story with Seattle Gay News and its readers came up, I sat in front of my laptop, à la Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City, moving my cursor back and forth hesitantly, wondering how much to share. Once I started seeing words turn into sentences, and then into
paragraphs, I slowly began to realize what the first 41 years of my life, including the last 20 years as a drag queen and a member of the Seattle’s LGBTQ community, have been. Some chapters of my life have been accomplished, successful, and blessed. Other chapters of my life have been lonely, selfish, and shameful. Whenever I am asked about what it is like to be a drag queen, I try to explain that I was an ugly
duckling that turned into a beautiful swan – it’s just that my swan happened be a drag queen who looked like a glamorous woman while my ugly duckling was a shy and awkward boy. A STRICT UPBRINGING I was raised in a strict and overprotective first-generation Filipino Catholic home in Columbia City, long before it was Gay and fashionable to live there. My father,
Primo, was a simple man, passive and honest, who led a quiet life. One of his proudest achievements was serving in the Army. He went on to work as a ship’s cook for NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) so he was out at sea six to eight months of the year. My mother, Luz, was an advocate for tough love and not afraid to discipline me physically. When I became older she would lock me
out of the house, forcing me to spend the night in the garage or on the streets, if I missed curfew. She was a seamstress who had her own dress shop in the International District and later made seats for Boeing airplanes. She raised me in a strict home, leaving me with my “Lola” most of the time while she worked. I remember once she told me she see gaysha page 32 Sam Jones
by Eric Andrews-Katz SGN A&E Writer
An interview with Derek Stratton, the man inside the beast
WAR HORSE PARAMOUNT THEATRE February 13 – 24, 2013 Derek Stratton is a man of many talents. He gave up medical school for the love of the stage and has a list of extensive credits. Currently, he is one of the three men to manipulate “Joey,” the horse puppet from the hit play War Horse, which opens in Seattle on Wednesday. Bringing a puppet to life on stage isn’t the easiest thing to do, but with the help of two others, Derek gives you its heart. Eric Andrews-Katz: Who were your earliest influences in becoming a performer? Derek Stratton: Actually it was my brother. He dragged me onto the stage in a high school production of West Side Story. He was playing Tony, and we’re only 13 months apart [in age], so he (l to r) Christopher Mai, Derek Stratton, and Rob Laqui
Brinkhoff/Mögenburg
see war horse page 28
by Albert Rodriguez SGN A&E Writer It’s easy to be jelly of Emmy Rossum. She gets to have sex with Justin Chatwin on the acclaimed Showtime series Shameless. She has an impeccable voice, thanks to an operatic background that includes appearances with Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo. She’ll soon be seen in the feature film Beautiful Creatures opposite Viola Davis, Emma Thompson, and Jeremy Irons. And, well, she’s unquestionably gorgeous. Balancing a multi-faceted career, see rossum page 31