The Legend of Georgia McBride is coming to the Woodstock Arts theatre
Ages 16+ (Language) | April 21-May 7
An interview with Director Quinn Xavier Hernandez, written by Lauren Cibene.
This 90-minute play by Matthew Lopez follows Casey: he’s young, he’s broke, his landlord’s knocking at the door, and he just found out his wife is going to have a baby. Making things worse, Casey is fired from his gig as an Elvis impersonator at a run-down, sink-hole Florida bar and replaced by a B-level drag show. But when one of the queens can’t go on, Casey decides to step into the spotlight.
“There are so many layers to this show,” says director Quinn Hernandez. “Self-acceptance and self-love are what this show is all about…Even though the main character isn’t queer, I feel like there is a lot of queer joy and celebration in this show.”
For audience members who have no experience with the world of drag, this show is the perfect safe space to take a peek into the realities of another community. Even Casey, the main character, has no experience with the drag community at the beginning of the show.
“We get to be there right beside him,” says Hernandez, “as he goes from being a straight man with no idea what’s going on in the world of drag…” to a straight man who now plays an integral part in his local drag community.
From a technical standpoint, this show combines theater magic with drag magic.
“There are a lot of moving parts because the show bounces between locations,” says Hernandez. “A big crux of the conflict is that Casey decides not to tell his wife about his new gig, so there are a lot of transitions for his character from being in drag, to being out of drag, and back again.”
There are at least 7 of these transitions written into the original script, “but we’re adding a few in.” says Hernandez. “For a fifteen-scene show, we should be close to ten big transitions.”
The demands of this production surprised even Hernandez, they say, “I knew that there was going to be a lot of transitions and costumes and craziness in making the theatrical magic, as well as the drag magic, happen. Reading it on the page, you get a sense of that. But when you start working through it with a team…The sheer scale of it has kind of blown me away.”
The tremendous efforts of this show’s 5-person cast and 7-person crew gift the audience with a heartfelt story about self-acceptance, self-love, and learning how to be the best version of yourself.
“We see Casey learning to accept his love of performing in a medium he never thought he’d try,” says Hernandez. “But we also see it with Tracy, she’s down on her luck at the beginning…Rexy starts off being a self-absorbed, in-it-for-herself drag queen…
“Learning to embrace all of yourself, even the parts you’re still working on, is what this show is all about.”