CRGazette.com – By Nicole Riehl – The Gazette
Local drag queen shows more popular than ever
Kylie Cass takes the stage in her orange and white vinyl blazer, short white skirt and thigh-high white boots.
Her tousled light-brown curls bounce as she sways her hips like a model on a catwalk. Stage lights emphasize her painted face as she lip syncs Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!”
But Kylie isn’t a woman. She’s a drag queen.
An hour earlier, before the dress, wig, dramatic makeup and Nerf-ball breasts, she was sipping a beer as a he: Greg Garza, 25, of Cedar Rapids.
Garza got into drag five years ago after dressing up for Halloween. He performs three nights a week at the Dragon Night Club, 329 Second Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids, and it’s not the only drag show in the Corridor. Cedar Rapids’ Club Basix, 3916 First Ave. NE, and Iowa City’s Studio 13, 13 S. Linn St. also have shows.
Club owners say the shows are more popular than ever. In the past, audiences were almost exclusively gay and lesbian. Now, with increasing acceptance of homosexuality, the shows attract more diverse audiences.