Lectures

Three lecture performances will shine light on various topics relating to drag. Two of the co-artistic directors from this years festival will be offering insight into what drag is for them. Bridge's lecture performance "king-ing the drag" is an insight into the creation of her most famous gender performance "The most beautiful woman in the world". Nancy will be premiering her lecture performance "On Drag", a comical critique of contemporary drag culture, a tentative study of trans tenacity. The festival schedule will close with nothing short of a sensation: Drag King legend Mo B. Dick's lecture "Drag King History". 

In this lecture performance Nancy, the mad tranny from the north of England who is organising the cabarets, workshops, panel discussions, and parties for the go drag! Festival, will share their thoughts on drag. The journey of a little boy who secretly wore their sister’s dresses, moved to Berlin, became a drag king, started a show called Venus Boys, grew a pair of tits, and discovered gender euphoria. 

Brotfabrik
Caligariplatz 1
13086 Berlin - Weißensee
Thur 6 October 2022 - 16:00
Photo: Papi Pistola

con-structing the bridge - de-constructing gender

Performative and playful the Berlin born gender performance legend Bridge Markland lets us take part how she did experiments with clothing and disguise in Berlin + New York City in the early 1990's which led to her most famous gender performance "The most beautiful woman in the world"

Audience comments:
"The coolest lecture we ever had!" Student at Technical University Braunschweig, 'Gender Studies'

"Bridge Markland's performance had me entertained from beginning to end. Her raw and interactive gestures towards the audience make you feel as if you are part of her experience, not just an observer." Student, CIEE US-College in Berlin, 'Gender + Sexuality' course

AHA Berlin
Monumentenstraße 13
10829 Berlin - Schöneberg
Sat 8 October 2022 - 14:30
Photo: p.pseudonym

Mo B. Dick (LA/USA) is a Drag Legend, MC extraordinaire, Show Producer, and Drag King historian. This protuberant pioneer is cited as one of the founding fathers of the modern-day Drag King movement. Mo produced and hosted Club Casanova (in New York City since 1995), the world’s first weekly Drag King party; and took this show on the road to tour US/CAN as another first for Kings. You can see him in Pecker by John Waters, Venus Boys by Gabriel Baur, History Lessons by Barbara Hammer, Y2K: Drag Kings on MTV, and more. During Covid, Mo hosted several international Drag King Zoom events (Kings of the World, Drag King Legends). For more than 25 years, Mo B. Dick has been the subject of books, documentaries, articles, periodicals, podcasts and more on Drag Kings proving he is a force to reckon with. This is his 1st time on stage in Berlin !

In 2018, Mo B. Dick and Ken Vegas (Washington DC/USA) teamed up to create dragkinghistory.com, a free resource library to preserve this art form. In 2020, this dynamic duo was granted permission to be archived in The U.S. Library of Congress ! This lecture presentation will showcase the extensive history of female-born performers who donned men's attire for theatrical purposes from breeches roles to en travesti, variety to vaudeville, male impersonation to drag kings, and drag kings to the gender free. Starting with the Tang Dynasty (618 A.D.) in China through to today, performer's stories will be woven together to reflect the through line from yesteryear to the go drag! Festival 2022.

English Theatre Berlin |
International Performing Arts Center
Fidicinstraße 40
10965 Berlin - Kreuzberg
Sun 9 October 2022 - 19:00
Photo: Dave Morffy