Circle Circle Dot Dot calls itself community based theater.
KATHERINE HARROFF: Community based theater comes from the practice of going out into
the community and finding different, interesting stories to turn into a play.
Artistic director Katherine Harroff founded the small company in 20-10 and writes an original
play for each new production.
For "Deconstruction of a Drag Queen," she found her story in Anthony Diaz.
ANTHONY DIAZ: She went out into the gay community, the drag community, and she wrote a play about
that and I happen to be one of those characters.
27-year-old Diaz says the play's about him finding the courage to become Grace Towers.
GRACE: Hello, I am Grace Towers and we are here at the premiere, the opening night of
"Deconstruction of a Drag Queen" put on by Circle Circle Dot Dot.
ANTHONY DIAZ: For my kind of drag I like the drama, I like the over the top, if I can wear
four lashes I'll wear four lashes.
Just so you can see me from around the block.
Diaz is trying to pass on that sense of drama to actor Shaun Tuazon.
SHAUN TUAZON: I am playing Michael who is based off Anthony Diaz and his drag character
is Sunny Peaks based off of Grace Towers,
ANTHONY DIAZ: There was some hesitation when I was first thinking about potentially putting
my life on the stage this way with Katie.
Hesitation because Diaz had a difficult relationship with his mother.
SHAUN TUAZON: You sort of see him exploring ways to express himself and in the play you
see his mother holding him back from being his true self.
MICHAEL: What if I want to dance and be on stage and I like fashion and clothes and I'm
good at school?
What can't I be all that?
MOTHER: You aren't, you understand me.
No.
No son of mine in my house ever.
KATHERINE HARROFF: This specific show has a little bit of a political agenda and a little
bit of a social spin on it which is acceptance and tolerance.
Diaz would find that acceptance and tolerance within the drag community and the play pays
tribute to those flamboyant divas.
CLIP I am your hostess and main narrator for the night, I am the Duchess Honey Mustard.
KATHERINE HARROFF: I have always had a big heart for the drag community I love a good
drag show.
CLIP This is the story of the birth of a true star, this is the deconstruction of a drag
queen.
Backstage at Tenth Avenue Theater Diaz does some deconstructing of his own as he explains
what it takes to turn actors into divas.
ANTHONY DIAZ: we have to make them look feminine so rounding out the face , creating the eye
make up, the eyelid, contouring the cheeks, creating lips, the contouring of the nose,
all creating shadows, smoke and mirrors, as I say.
QUEEN: It takes me at least two hours to get ready.
UTOPIA: Amateurs.
QUEEN: Shut up Utopia, you hardly wear any make up.
UTOPIA: Not all of us need as much as you do.
One things Diaz provided for the actors were hips.
ANTHONY DIAZ: New hips sponsored by lazy boy...
Well just the same with make up you are creating an illusion and boys don't have hips like
girls do.
So we create hips out of foam.
I'm giving all my tricks away.
All my secrets...
Getting people to reveal their secrets is what Katherine Harroff is good at.
In the company's previous show "Ragnarok," she uncovered the fantasy world of Live Action
Role Playing or LARPing.
KATHERINE HARROFF: Every show is different in what it needs, with the Larping play we
had to make foam weapons that were sturdy and they worked well and they were believable
to the community and with this it was really about making sure that our queens looked like
queens.
And queens don't shop at Ross.
KATHERINE HARROFF: We definitely had to reach out and see if there were any hand me downs
that we could use because dresses for men are expensive...
She confesses that with gowns, stilettos, jewelry, and make up they went over budget.
KATHERINE HARROFF: We are going to have the community come and sit watch this and they
are going to be looking to see if we really tried to make it believable and so we knew
we had to do that.
The drag community showed its support last weekend at the play's opening night.
Harroff says people like Fernando Lara who performs as Fifi at Lips has expressed appreciation
for the way the play finds the humanity beneath the glitter.
KATHERINE HARROFF: He said a lot of times, most of the time, drag queens are seen as
clowns or strippers and that the art of it is really lost on a lot of people.
ANTHONY DIAZ: It's not just putting on make up, it's not just putting on a wig, there's
a lot of preparation, there's a lot of creating the illusion, there's a lot of creating the
performance and just like any other art form we are passionate about it.
Kevane La'Marr Coleman conveys both the passion and the art of illusion in his performance
as Utopia.
CLIP Lip synching
ANTHONY DIAZ: If I can inspire someone to do it to bring out the diva within then I'd
be happy.
KATHERINE HARROFF: And that's kind of the point that you come and you learn about something
that's different or scary or something that you would otherwise not want to know anything
about and you can see yourself in it and you can connect with it.
ANTHONY DIAZ: My heart is so full right now it really is and it's so amazing to have so
many compassionate artists behind this it really means a lot.