/
film
Queens of Heart
Documentary takes a psychological look at drag
by Pat Young
ueens of Heart: Community Therapists in
Drag, a documentary about Portland icon
Darcelle, is nearing completion.
Directors Jan Haaken and Wendy Kohn
are holding a special screening to raise
money that will go toward final editing and market
ing of the film, which takes a psychological look at
drag.
“1 often describe the project as going beyond the
view that drag queens are funny, entertaining and
that drag clubs are a form of tourist entertainment,”
says Haaken, a psychology professor at Portland
State University. “The film draws out the serious,
complex aspect of what they do that is not general
ly appreciated. And what they do requires a deep
understanding of human psychology. This has been
neglected in popular treatment of drag performers.
“The performers really do work with the anxi
eties, conflict and desires that people bring into the
club. And that interested me early on in the project.”
Haaken notes that the film—in a partly serious
and partly campy way—plays with the idea that the
performers are psychologists intervening and help
ing people with their anxieties and fears around
sexuality and gender. But rather than keeping the
camera focused on the performers, the film turns
the camera onto the audience and examines what
people find so “disturbing, exciting, pleasurable and I
funny about the performers."
At the heart of the movie is Darcelle along with
her relationship with Roxy. The movie covers
Kohn. “Another problem was that during
where Darcelle grew up and how she met and
the performance, audience members would
courted Roxy. In one touching scene, they remi
turn the tap lights on and off repeatedly, in
nisce about their first date, correcting each others
time to the music or just from the pent-up
memory of the event.
excitement, which kind of defeated the
“Their love and the history of their relationship
point of having the light on to film their
is inspiring,” says Haaken.
facial expressions.”
Kohn adds: “Darcelle and Roxy are jewels [who]
Kohn says Darcelle came to the rescue
quietly go on with their community work, week
by joking with the audience to leave the
after week, giving benefit performances, making
lights on.
guest appearances all over the community, opening
That was just one of the many chal
up their home and their club and giving their all to
lenges of filming in a nightclub. Others
make a difference in the world—and they do it
included filming in tight quarters without
with humor and style."
getting in the way of the performers or
They were also generous and patient during the I audience.
making of the documentary week after week, notes
“It was a challenge to stay out of the
Kohn, with lighting being a significant problem.
way hut to seize the moment," recalls
Because the audience was an important part of the
Haaken. “The club is a very claustropho
documentary, the film crew needed to find a way to
bic, intense place where things happen
get enough light on rhe crowd without causing a
very fast in close spaces and the perform
distraction from the drag show. Kohn explains they
ers have their work to do. You have to not
found a low-tech solution by putting inexpensive
get in the way and trip over them, but you
Queens of Heart: Community Therapists in Drag plays
battery-operated tap lights on the tables. Unfortun
have to grab the moment. Over time they
with the idea that Darcelle helps people with their
got used to us being there.’ ©
anxieties and fears around sexuality and gender.
ately, some of the patrons thought they were
souvenirs, and “after the first performance where we
tested the concept, half our lights disappeared,” she
A special 25-minute version of QUEENS OF HEART:
Ave. Tickets are $10-$25 from Ticketmaster. For
says.
C ommunity T herapists in D rag screens 4 pm.
more information visit www.queensofheartdoc.com.
“We ended up having to super-glue a piece of I >cc. 10 at Cinema 21 ,616 N.W. 21st Ave.,
strong ribbon to the bottom of the tap light and followed by a reception hosted by Pink Martini’s
Portland freelance writer P at Y oung is a gay and
then safety-pin the ribbon to the tablecloth,” adds
Thomas luiuderdale at Bluehour, 250 N.W. 13th
lesbian historian.
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