OUT at the Opera with Dr. Lady J
February 08. 2024
Upcoming Dates
February 08. 2024
Castrated Superstars, Cross-Dressed Divas, and Queer Lovers: A History of Drag in Opera OUT at the Opera with Dr. Lady J
Join us at Center on Halsted for an intimate event with Dr. Lady J, the world’s first drag queen with a Ph.D. in musicology. Delve into the captivating history of drag in opera with her lecture, Castrated Superstars, Cross-Dressed Divas, and Queer Lovers: A History of Drag in Opera. As a non-binary trans woman with more than a decade of experience performing and producing in the drag world, Lady J’s lived experience deeply informs her understanding of the art form’s history and allows her to speak to both its past and present. This exceptional collaboration was sparked by Lyric’s upcoming opera, Champion, based on the true story of boxer Emile Griffith who finds community among drag queens, marking one of the first representations of drag queens on the operatic stage.
Secure your $10 spot now for an unforgettable and enlightening evening. Space is limited.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and a light reception will follow.
- Location: In the Hoover-Leppen Theatre at The Center on Halsted (3656 N Halsted St, Chicago, IL 60613)
Tuesday, February 6 at 7 PM
Drag Night OUT at the Opera
Walk the red carpet, see a show, and mix and mingle with Dr. Lady J herself! Join us on Tuesday, February 6 at 7 pm for a performance of Champion and attend Drag Night OUT at the Opera. Use promo code DRAGNIGHT to purchase a ticket, including:
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Red carpet entrance hosted by Dr. Lady J
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$75 Main Floor Seats, $39 Balcony seats
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Attendance at the pre-opera talk by Roderick K. Hawkins (optional)
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Self-guided tour of concrete rose, exhibit by Patric McCoy (optional)
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An intermission reception hosted by Dr. Lady J in the American Airlines Mezzanine with complimentary light bites and cash bar
Dr. Lady J
Dr. Lady J (known out of drag as J Davenport) is a Cleveland, Ohio-based historian, drag artist, podcaster, curator, and activist originally from rural East Tennessee who specializes in drag performance history. She is best known for her dissertation “From the Love Ball to RuPaul: The Mainstreaming of Drag in the 1990s,” which was featured as a ProQuest Success Story. She is also known as the host of the podcast Untucking the Past and cohost/co-producer of The Pod of Dust and Rainbows with Kenyon Farrow. Lady J is an award-winning queer and trans community leader who was voted “Cleveland’s Best Activist” in 2021 and 2023 and served as the inaugural Director of Programming, Education & Outreach for Studio West 117, a $100 million development project focusing on arts and entertainment for the Northeast Ohio LGBTQ+ and allied community. Her work as a writer has been featured in National Geographic and the Journal of the American Musicological Society and her essay “Experimenting with Lady J: A Trans Take on Drag” was published in the textbook Dance in US Popular Culture earlier this year.
Lady J’s research and educational outreach focus on fighting the historical erasure of marginalized drag communities and bringing forward the contributions drag performers have made to politics, music, film, fashion, and popular culture. Through public education and nightlife activism, Lady J attempts to undo the misogynistic myth that drag is primarily and historically performed by, and thus belongs to, cisgender men who dress as women. She highlights the significant role of transgender people and cisgender women throughout drag history, placing emphasis on the foundational role of performers of color. She further works to show how drag performances function by returning performances and performers back into their full cultural context.