Professor Karen Finley co-hosted “A Flawless Evening: A Public Conversation with Flawless Sabrina.” Professor Finley was joined by Joe E. Jeffreys (Department of Drama), Attorney Mary Dorman, and Darrell Willson (Department of Film and Television) and introduced by Sheril Antonio (Departments of Art and Public Policy, Clive Davis Recorded Music, Dramatic Writing, Film and Television).
Legendary drag impresario and gender activist Flawless Sabrina ( aka Jack Doroshow) is an influential entrepreneur for establishing queer public performance in a pre Stonewall era. As a trailblazer Flawless Sabrina appropriated the artform of the beauty pageant to cross gender boundaries and award visibility of the transgressing and beholding of beauty. While challenging societal heteronormative norms at a time when the term cross dresser was not only pathologized but illegal. Arrested, detained Flawless refused to be kept in the closet as an oddity or a secret but continued to celebrate and encourage the expansion and public awareness of queer fluid expression and representation without shame or apology.The conversation will feature clips and out-takes from the 1968 documentary Queen.
A reception followed the event. Co-presented by Art and Public Policy, Dept of Film and Television and Dept of Drama. This event was part of Cross Tisch.
With generous support from the Office of the Dean and the Tisch Initiative for Creative Research.