EYEWITNESS NEWS (WBRE/WYOU) — The cancellation of a show in Schuylkill County is causing controversy, but not because people want a refund.
The Diocese of Allentown put a stop to what would have been a drag show in one of their former churches.
The drag show was scheduled to take place Saturday and organizers say they were given just three days cancellation notice.
I was able to speak with people on both sides of the issue and get an idea of how this will affect members of the drag community.
These two words on the doors of the Kelsey Theater in St. Clair mean the drag show that had been planned for weeks was forced to be canceled just days before the curtain went up.
"This has been advertised for weeks, and then all of a sudden three days before the show, we get a certified letter from the diocese," said Dana Smith Mansell the Vice President of Actors Guild of Schuylkill County.
The Diocese of Allentown owned the former church before selling it to the Actors Guild of Schuylkill County in 2019.
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The Diocese included certain performance restrictions in the deed and it believes a drag show violates the deed.
In a statement the Diocese said,
Drag shows, particularly those including minors, contradict the teachings of the church and our understanding of the dignity of the human person.
But, members of the theater and actors guild say they do not believe that drag violates any of the clauses.
"The people with that group, they're performers. it doesn't have any kind of a connotation other than they're a performer, and so they dress up," says Mansell.
The fundraiser was a volunteer effort and organizers say it was designed to be family friendly.
"We're a non-profit group. we rely on the public, we rely on performance, we rely on kind people like that group wanting to do a fundraiser for us. it's a community," continued Mansell.
Those who organized the show are not the only ones disappointed in the cancellation. The incident stirred up conversation within the drag community all over northeastern Pennsylvania.
"You're supposed to love thy neighbor, you're supposed to accept people and let god do the judging, and I think it's unbelievable that people could walk one walk and talk another talk," added Ebert.
Shawn Ebert is better known to many as "Estella Sweet", a well-known drag personality within NEPA.
Ebert is friends with many of the performers from the canceled show and says people dressing and performing as the opposite sex is nothing new.
"People are being told to have a problem with it rather than just accept it or enjoy it for what it is. People have been dressing in drag for centuries," said Ebert.
Ebert believes there's a simple solution. If you don't like drag stay home.
"It's not harming anybody. If you don't want to see it, you don't need to see it," stated Ebert.
Both the Diocese and Kelsey Theater members have expressed that they'd like to work with each other to come to an agreement.
As for Saturday's drag show, it has been postponed to a later date at a new location.
