Darrin Hagen
Every once in a while, a queen is born. Whether through osmosis or immaculate misconception is still mostly a mystery, but they appear. Suddenly and without warning, a new pretender to the throne stands in front of you. Under the terms of the Sisterhood of Unrecognized Royalty, they all get their grab at the tiara at some point in their career.
Darrin Hagen
The Edmonton Queen: The Final Voyage – 2007
July 1982 a young man ventured out on his own with a few clothes, a love letter from an older (33) man and his accordion strapped to his back boarding a Greyhound Bus in downtown Rocky Mountain House, Alberta and made his way to the streets of Edmonton. Within months a new Drag Persona called Gloria Hole was born and quickly rode to the top of the drag queen hierarchy at Flashback.
It only took 5 years after his arrival in Edmonton for Hagen and his partner Kevin Hendricks to create their first show, Delusions of Grandeur, which they took to the Edmonton Fringe Festival in 1987 beginning a journey of annual Guys In Disguise productions that continue annually to this day.
The video below presents some of the early years of Gloria Hole a the Flashback club in Edmonton.
Footage from 1981-1983 filmed by Pat Monaghan. Footage from 1983-1991 recorded by whoever was free to run the camera!
Thanks to Darrin Hagen and Chris Fassbender with the support of the Edmonton Arts Council and the City of Edmonton – Local Government here is a video that captures a few moments of the fun.
Funding for this story made possible by the Arts Council and the City of Edmonton
Darrin Hagen
Darrin Hagen is an award-winning playwright, author and LGBTQ historian. He has created many plays, stories and articles about our queer history, including Witch Hunt at the Strand, The Empress & The Prime Minister, and The Edmonton Queen: The Final Voyage. He also created the Queer History Bus Tour which ran for over a decade.
Rainbow Story Hub
