{"id":34574,"date":"2024-05-16T16:58:48","date_gmt":"2024-05-16T20:58:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=34574"},"modified":"2024-05-16T16:58:50","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T20:58:50","slug":"gustav-ascends-throne-for-apls-drag-king-story-hour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/gustav-ascends-throne-for-apls-drag-king-story-hour\/","title":{"rendered":"Gustav ascends throne for APL\u2019s Drag King Story Hour"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A little bit of glitz and a whole lot of heart will descend upon the Aurora Public Library on Saturday, June 1, as Gustav hosts APL\u2019s very first Drag King Story Hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Story hours such as this have been a mainstay of APL\u2019s Pride Month programming, but this is the first time a Drag King rather than a Drag Queen will lead families in a morning of magic, love and acceptance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s also going to be a first for Gustav \u2013 the alter ego of Sare Thorpe \u2013 who is excited to host his inaugural story hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love doing kids\u2019 and family-friendly shows because the kids are so brutally honest they will let you know what they\u2019re thinking, especially if it\u2019s a very interactive show,\u201d says Thorpe. \u201cI remember being a kid and I remember feeling really weird and different from than all the other kids I went to school with and Gustav is the same. He felt and feels different than everybody else. My thing is to show families and kids that it\u2019s okay to be different, it\u2019s okay to be yourself, and that should be celebrated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEveryone can be different together. That\u2019s what makes us all unique and that\u2019s what builds community: embracing each other\u2019s differences and respecting each other based on those differences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thorpe has always been drawn to drag as an art form even before they tried their own hand at it. They would go and see shows in the city, became an ardent fan of RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race, and then began to think, \u201cIf I did drag, I wonder what that would be like.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI came out as non-binary in 2020 and really found myself sort of figuring out who I was in a gender sense and exploring the feminine and masculine sides of myself,\u201d they say, noting that Gustav had been \u2018brewing in my head\u2019 for a while before he made his debut at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre cabaret in Toronto. \u201cIt was April of 2023 and I thought, \u2018Here\u2019s my chance.\u2019 It was figuring out his look, how to do the style of makeup and performance style. I just loved the process of it so much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith the drag queen story time events, I just really like the idea of a drag artist family-friendly events like this because there has been a lot of news and things online about people being in the more conservative end saying things like, \u2018Drag performers are trying to hurt children, indoctrinate children, they\u2019re not good people.\u2019 I think it is important to show that, like an actor, drag performers have range and can do work, acts and performance pieces that are geared towards adults, and they can also do something that is family friendly. To me, it is no different to an actor doing a Disney film and then doing a film for Quentin Tarantino!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to show drag performers\u2026connecting with families and young people about the importance of being yourself and the importance of self-expression. It\u2019s okay you\u2019re different, everyone is different in some way. Our differences should be celebrated. That\u2019s important and that\u2019s why I was drawn to this story time event.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahead of APL\u2019s event, Thorpe promises \u201ca lot of dancing and music \u2013 and Gustav is going to have a great outfit with lots of sparkles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be joyful,\u201d they say. \u201cMy main thing is, let\u2019s start our day with some joy and we\u2019re reinforcing this idea that it\u2019s okay to be yourself because who you are as yourself is wonderful. For anyone who is on the fence and is unsure whether a drag event is appropriate for their family or kids, I would say, \u2018Check it out,\u2019 and, like I mentioned before, actors, drag performers have a range and will tailor certain performances for a family-friendly children\u2019s event. We will tailor that to make sure it\u2019s appropriate. Because drag challenges gender norms and gender stereotypes, and ideas about gender and who can wear makeup and who can wear a dress and that sort of thing, I think it shows people it doesn\u2019t matter what gender you are, it doesn\u2019t matter who you are, if you want to wear a dress, wear a dress. If you want to put on some lipstick, put on some lipstick. It doesn\u2019t matter who you are. If that\u2019s what makes you feel alive, makes you feel like yourself, that\u2019s great.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information about Gustav\u2019s Drag King Story Hour, visit www.aurorapl.ca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A little bit of glitz and a whole lot of heart will descend upon the Aurora Public Library on Saturday, June 1, as Gustav hosts APL\u2019s very first Drag King Story Hour. Story hours such as this have been a mainstay of APL\u2019s Pride Month programming, but this is the first time a Drag King […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":34575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/2024-05-16-04.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8ZE","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-22 13:51:29","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}