Member Profile: The Kings of the Hill
Portland, Maine based The Kings of the Hill bring a sense of play to drag performance. With ever changing productions and a wide variety of characters, this troupe frolics among the shifting boundaries of theater, comedy, and gender. We sat down with the Kings to find out about their haphazard origins and continuing collaborations.
The creation of The Kings of the Hill is rumored to include “a garage, sangria, and a hot summer night.” Care to elaborate?
Yes…this is true. In July 2006, we impulsively decided to put on a show. Most of us had never performed before and we had no idea how many people would even come. Over the next two weeks we planned and rehearsed, transformed a backyard garage into a performance space, invited friends and friends of friends, and delegated two people to make sangria. Aside from an unplanned loose dog on stage, it was a smashing success.
So what is a Kings of the Hill performance like? What do you find special about the tradition of drag, and how are you building on it?
Since July 2006, we have produced and performed about 12 full length shows and made appearances in dozens of other shows with performers such as Bunny Wonderland and Atomic Trash. We have had between 4-6 members plus MC and comedienne Leslie Downes, and lighting designer Jeff Fightmaster. Our shows are usually one or two hours and are best described as sketch comedy/drag. We lip sync and perform live and “dance.” Occasionally we will repeat a few of the acts, but otherwise every show has been completely original.
Drag is sort of this subtle power tool. It lets you break down and mess with so many things. And though people’s exposure to gender differences is widening, gender can still be a really rigid concept. So as a performer, once you decide to play around with it - you are a young hip hop guy in one scene and 20 minutes later you are an elderly woman - you really are doing something that a lot of people haven’t seen much of. And the more we have played with drag, the easier it has become to play around with just about any idea.
Who writes your material? Are your productions scripted, improvised, or a bit of both?
We all contribute to writing the material. Everything is planned and we are very type A…so we rehearse a lot. With that said, live is live - so improvised moments happen. And sometimes we will make major changes between performances, depending on how it felt and how the audience reacted.
Drag kings and queens are recently embraced by pop culture in lots of ways. Does that make audiences excited about your performances?
That’s hard to say. We haven’t gotten the sense that the presence of drag queens and kings in pop culture has contributed much to the energy in our audience. I’d almost say it is the opposite. Lots of people who come to our shows are excited because there really is not anything quite like this going on - especially live. We even have a fair number of people who come up from Boston or New York who say this as well. But frankly, we are pretty sure people get excited about our performances because we almost always have really comfortable chairs.
How has membership with Fractured Atlas made your life better?
One of the major stressors to putting on shows has been cost. We have been committed to the idea that we want to put on the highest quality production we can while keeping ticket price as low as possible to ensure accessibility for our audience. Membership with Fractured Atlas has been great because it has provided an avenue for our supporters to make tax-deductible contributions. It has also helped us to feel a part of a larger community of artists.
What’s next?
We just had a major show this summer at Portland Stage Company and are now hibernating in a super-secret creative cave. Check us out at our website and on Facebook for announcements.
All images courtesy of Heather Borst.
Tags: collective, comedy, drag, member profile
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