Friend and Faux

Monique Jenkinson stunned the world when her drag alter ego, Fauxnique, won the Miss Trannyshack title in 2003. She was the only person born a woman to ever have made it to the very tippy top of the San Francisco drag world; no one with lady bits has knocked her off that throne since. (Although it’s obvious Kegel Kater is gunning for it, and we wish her well.) Faux Real is Jenkinson’s answer to those who’ve given her the slack-jawed yokel “Huuuuh? How can a wuhmun be a drag queen?” over the years. Of course, Cletus has a point: It’s not easy for an outsider to succeed, anywhere, and the drag scene is no exception. But Jenkinson has what it takes to make a queen a queen: the style, the willingness to wear that much makeup, and enough apartment space for the costumes and props. But most importantly, she has the choreographic and conceptual talent to match her need to be the center of attention. She plans to reprise many of her crowd-pleasing acts of the past for this show; they include the work-intensive “Poses,” which makes Project Runway look like an idea Jenkinson and close conspirator, dancer Kevin Clarke, came up with a long time ago and discarded. Fans of original fierceness and genuine diva behavior are also excited about “Mimicry and Flaunting,” inspired by Maria Callas.
Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Starts: April 23. Continues through May 9, 2009