Jewish drag artists raise money for Brooklyn & Gaza

Alexa Wilkinson stars in Full Moon Drag

Last Sunday, a group of Jewish drag artists called Full Moon Drag performed at the Maple Street Community Garden in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York, a shelter created for Sukkot. They gathered to make sukkah.

Beneath an overhanging willow tree, a sukkah decorated with poppies, keffiyeh, and a hand-painted “FREE PALESTINE” flag set the stage for the production, titled “HOT 2 ROT.” The troupe performed for an audience of 100 area residents and supported Equality of Flatbush, a local mutual aid organization that fights to keep neighbors in their homes and free from police violence, and International Mutual Aid, which provides supplies. Successfully raised $2,000 for the organization Denizen Society. Provide shelter and food for Gaza refugees. “By sunset, the entire troupe and audience had evacuated en masse,” a press release for the event said.

Some drag artists reflected on their performances in statements included in press releases.

“During Sukkot, we welcome ushpizin, or supernatural guests, and that’s my number. I wear a dress made out of tissue and I wear a Kesha snort. I lip-synced it to the mix with my recently deceased grandmother’s voice, which speaks rather obsessively about the way we all blow our noses. Including my grandmother in this way has always been about silliness, play, and no one in my family. “My ancestry has been rooted in fighting for a world where people have access to joy,” said Abby Goldberg, who goes by the name Chava Goodtime.

“My act is an expression of sadness, pain, anger and defiance in solidarity with the Palestinian people. In the finale, I pour black ink from a silver plate all over my body. It stains my skin and clothes, and my skin I tried to convey raw emotion, connect with the singers and the audience, and express how we feel as a collective. “It’s a call to build a vision of who we can be: a home rooted in the places we live, security, and security with the marginalized people around us,” says performer Zev, as ZivZavZuv. They talked about their second collaboration in Full Moon Drag.

“To open the show, I played Lady Gaga’s ‘Come to Mama’ as a way to welcome Ushpizhin, our spiritual ancestors, into our space, but it was also important to me that we collectively It was also a way to welcome the Jewish community that we have created and what we stand for. ” said Ariel, the show’s producer and a drag queen who goes by the name Harsh Babe. “The way I see it, proud anti-Zionist queer Jews like us represent a space that the Jewish left covets and is actively creating. He similarly brought members of the troupe to the Sukkah stage and wrapped them in shawls made from Jewish Voice for Peace shirts that many of the troupe members had participated in a few days earlier at the New York Stock Exchange. It is emblazoned with phrases such as “Not” and “Jews say stop arming Israel.” My goal was to create an atmosphere that celebrates what it means to be in a Jewish community centered around love and liberation. ”

Check out images from the show and the group photo below.