Paige Turner Makes America Gay Again

After her sold-out run during Pride Week, Paige Turner and friends Sutton Lee Seymour and Jackie Cox are back with Make America Gay Again! The New York Times heralded the show as “a drag history lesson” before its return to The Laurie Beechman Theatre August 12 and August 26.

“Every year we do a big pride show,” Turner told us over burgers and shakes at Five Napkin in Hell’s Kitchen. “And this year even before all the negative stuff happened, I wanted to do a show about gay history and represent people who have come before us, and represent how far we have come and how far we still have to go.”

“Obviously there is so much material,” Turner said. “But we also focus on my friendship with the two other queens in the show, Sutton Lee Seymour and Jackie Cox. They are total triple threats with musical theatre backgrounds. They sing live and dance and are total pros. It’s campy but there are actually some really touching parts in the show as well.”

This hilarious trip through history celebrates all things gay—with a little bit of politics and a whole lotta pride thrown in. Make America Gay Again! features numbers from Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Mamma Mia!, South Park, The Producers, and more.

“It makes audience feel good and nostalgic and we touch on honoring a certain queen that a lot of gay men love,” Turner said. “We renamed the title and added some more political stuff to it for this time around. There are a lot of parodies in the show and we do some old school pop tunes. I don’t necessarily do stuff that is really popular. I have a section on bottoming. There is a section for everyone in it!”

Turner wants the new gay generation to understand our history. “Pride is being proud of who you are and being able to show your colors at all times as a gay man. But not forgetting those who came before us and who have paved the way.”

“It’s very important for that crop of people who care who Larry Kramer was, because there is a big portion of gays who don’t care, who have never heard of him. To know that a lot of men died of AIDS because now people are popping pills and it’s not even an issue nowadays. There are always a crop of people who know that or want to know that. So it’s good to remind the new crop of baby gays about things that are very important and have come before. It’s great to do that through art.”

Orlando helped Turner realize her role as an artist in her community. “When Orlando happened, I asked what is my role as a drag queen who talks to a lot of people in the gay community? I had people writing and texting me that day, ‘You’re doing your show tonight still right? I am gonna come in. I really need a laugh. I really need to be in a bar. I need to feel safe and not scared.’ I then realized, ‘Oh. This is my duty as a drag queen.’ It’s to make people laugh. Making people feel no matter what shape, size or color they are, that they are included.”

For tickets, visit spincyclenyc.com.

Photo by Preston Burford.