A multi-channel video installation and live performance piece, “The Diva Saga: The Legend of the Worst Drag Queen,” questions constructions of sexuality, gender, and identity in a digital age and examines how Veronica Bleaus became the self-proclaimed ‘worst drag queen.’ Lampooning normative and restrictive constructions of sex, artistic judgment, and popular culture, “The Diva Saga” draws heavily from numerous visual and aural storytelling mediums like comic books, Japanese anime, video games, music videos, and high fantasy. “The Diva Saga” is presented at the Tawes Theater at Washington College in Chestertown, MD on September 20 and 21. The work is produced by Professor Scott Andrew and performed by John Musser as Veronica Bleaus.
A series of campy confrontations between a live Veronica and the avatars of drag—digital identities projected on stage (also played by Veronica)—the live and digital Veronicas clash in their respective interpretations, battling each other in a fantastic, campy visual and sonic narrative. A Drag Saga uses live and digital performance to gesture to and capture the importance of camp and divas in queer processes of self-making and alternative identity construction.