Jacksonville,
do you want to
get jaded?
That's
Jade Esteban
Estrada
's term
for leaving
audiences with
his artistic
mark. And it
means he's ready
to bring his
one-man show
ICONS: The
Lesbian and Gay
History of the
World, Vol. 1
, to
Boomtown Theatre
for two
performances
tonight.
Estrada has been
to Jacksonville
a handful of
times and loves
it here.
"It's a very
mixed bag,"
Estrada said by
phone from his
family's home in
San Antonio.
"Just when I
want to say, 'Oh
my God,
Jacksonville is
so conservative'
there can be ...
extremely
progressive
people."
Maybe that's why
First Coast
Pride Festival
organizers and
local art people
keep inviting
him back. Unlike
past visits,
Estrada won't be
performing at
the festival,
but tonight's
shows do
coincide with
the weeklong
celebration of
First Coast
Pride, which
culminates with
the annual
festival in
Jacksonville
Beach on Sunday.
He said ICONS
isn't a show for
gay people or
about gay
people. It's
just about
people.
"I've always
been about
inclusion for
everyone," he
said.
Estrada has his
fingers in
several slices
of the artistic
pie. He's made a
name for himself
by appearing as
a regular on
Comedy Central's
The Graham
Norton Effect.
His music
plays in the
background on
the police drama
The Shield on
FX. He has
shared the stage
with everyone
from Jennifer
Lopez to Charo.
Although Estrada
keeps busy
performing and
singing, he
wanted to start
a project that
would combine
his interest in
history and
different art
forms. So after
releasing his
album
Angel in
2001, Estrada
came up with the
idea for ICONS.
"In trying to
find something
that was the gay
Latino
experience, I
realized a
larger story
hadn't been told
yet and not in
this way," he
said.
ICONS highlights
what Estrada
calls key gay
people in
history, and he
plays six
different
characters,
including Sappho,
Michelangelo,
Oscar Wilde,
Gertrude Stein
and Ellen
DeGeneres.
Estrada also
plays
lesser-known
character Sylvia
Rivera, a drag
queen who
resisted a
police raid at
New York's
Stonewall Inn in
1969 and is
credited by many
with starting
the gay rights
movement.
Estrada dances,
sings and
performs
monologues as he
moves from
character to
character.
He also has
started
performing the
sequel,
ICONS: The
Lesbian and Gay
History of the
World Vol. 2,
which is more
political in
nature.
So does he want
to come back and
jade
Jacksonville
with that one?
"Oh,
absolutely."
Copyright 2005
Florida Times
Union
