He's a singer, with the 1998 dance hit "Reggae Twist" under his belt. He's a

dancer who, for a time, choreographed camp queen Charo's stage act. And he's a comedian, who's used topical material to coax laughter from audiences across the country. But when people ask him what he does, the first answer that pops into the back of Jade Esteban Estrada's mind is "I transform."

     On Saturday, at the Contemporary Arts Center, Estrada will transform aplenty, from Alexander the Great to Queen Christina of Sweden, to Susan B. Anthony, to Harvey Milk, to Billie Jean King and, finally, Sept. 11 hero Mark Bingham, who helped wrestle control of Flight 93 from terrorists. Estrada's 75-minute one-man show, called "ICONS: The Lesbian and Gay History of the World, Vol. 2," is one of the highlights of DecaFest, the second annual festival of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender culture, taking place through Monday.

     "What I enjoy about 'ICONS 2,' is that I only mention the word gay once," said the 31-year-old San Antonio, Texas, native. ". . . These were great men and women who shaped our culture and, by the way, they were gay."

     Estrada hopes audiences will be amused by his depictions of homosexual heroes, but he's quick to say that he doesn't ridicule his subjects. In conversation, he describes them in loving historic detail. In Estrada's telling, Alexander may have been a world conqueror, but he understood global economics millennia before it became a buzzword. In the 17th century, Queen Christina sacrificed her personal life in order to become a monarch, then sacrificed her monarchy for her religious faith. Anthony strove for universal equality, not just women's suffrage. King used her tennis racket to battle for feminist rights in a male-dominated sports world.

     The jokes, he hopes, arise from the details. Considering invading Babylon, Alexander says: "We'll strike with all the might of Macedonia, and gold, silver, art, literature and really cool haircuts will pour through." When King triumphs over a male rival, she recalls that sportscaster Howard Cosell asked her: "Do you consider yourself an athlete or a woman?"

     "I like to go as far as I can with the meat of the dramatic situation," Estrada said by phone. "I don't let it get too heavy. I'm a comedian."

     Comedian or not, sometimes the situations are a bit biting. In his Harvey Milk routine, played as a George M. Cohan-esque tap dance, the San Francisco politician runs for office again and again and again, like the little train that could. Trouble is, when he's finally elected, he's assassinated for his trouble. The Harvey Milk segment of "ICONS 2" can be seen at www.youtube.com. (See this video here).

     Estrada performed "ICONS 1," featuring a different selection of homosexual heroes, at the first DecaFest last year and described the post-Katrina crowd as sophisticated and wise with, what he called, "old knowledge."

     "There was a lot of talk about healing," he said. "I don't have to explain anything in New Orleans, which is great, because I don't have to teach, I just have to be funny."

    

©2007 New Orleans Times-Picayune