Thursday, around 6 p.m., John Sefakis starts his weekly transformation into Stella D’oro, his drag persona. Facing three lighted mirrors and in front of a bouquet of bright, plastic flowers, the 74-year-old Greek American, he is performing at the Barracuda Lounge, a gay bar in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood, he tells me as I stand next to a living room table, now transformed into an improvised vanity.
"I see what the queens do on ' Drag Race' when they make up. They are so severe because they don’t have any wrinkles," Sefakis says.first drag home after she performed her “Chicago” number there and won a contest. When asked how she would spend the $100 prize, she said that she would invest it in Project Achieve, a program to develop an HIV vaccine. D’oro became the “Queen of Vaccine,” and hosted Vaccine-O-Licious, a show to educate on HIV vaccine trials.
When his makeup is done, Sefakis puts on his undergarments, including a cincher and a bra to hold him ever tighter. His age prevents him from tucking, as many younger drag queens do. “I don’t tuck because I need to go to the bathroom,” he says. Once his legs are covered with a pair of shimmery tights, he dons a sequined dress he bought six years ago at a Rent the Runway sample sale for $10. “I wear it very rarely. I have so many clothes,” he says.
Harmonica Sunbeam, a drag queen who started performing 33 years ago as part of the ballroom culture, echoes LaBeija’s words. “There’s still some establishments and promoters who don’t hire as many drag artists of color as they should,” she says. “I think that will never go away.
“And I feel brilliant, bombastic, super fantastic,” D’oro utters before falling into a “senior citizen” death drop on stage to close her weekly number. “Alive, alive, alive!”When she finishes, the public cheers loudly. Still, another queen named A’Nylah the Doll takes the prize, and D’oro leaves Barracuda just after midnight, continuing to bask in the warmth of adoration.
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