A Hartland native has been breaking barriers in the drag community as the first performer at the Waukesha County Fair and at the Wisconsin State Fair. Now she is looking ahead to what’s next.
Ester Flonaze has been doing drag performances for more than 10 years. She got her start at Wisconsin's oldest LGBTQ+ bar, This is It!
"I started at This is It, that is where I started doing bingo," Flonaze said.
She credits her degree in theater and a well-known sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live as early inspirations.
"I was involved in theater and community theater. And SNL was a big inspo [inspiration] for me," Flonaze said. "Then drag just sort of found me and I explored what I was capable in the drag community.”
Flonase grew up in Hartland and attended Arrowhead High School. As she made a name for herself with her Granny Bingo show, she was asked to be the first drag performer at the Waukesha County Fair and then at the Wisconsin State Fair.
Drag performers across the country have faced protests and even restrictions as some states have tried to pass or have passed laws against drag performances. Flonaze sees her work as an art form.
"I look at this art as art hanging in a museum. It is subjective. It doesn't matter if you don't get it. You just need to respect the fact it is art," Flonaze said.
Flonaze regularly performs her Granny Bingo show, which includes bingo, singing and comedy, across Waukesha, Racine and Milwaukee Counties. She performs at Matty's in New Berlin and Tally's Tap in Waukesha and recently performed at Racine's Pride in the Park event over the weekend.
"The whole permanence of why people do this is to entertain, like that's it," Flonaze said."How are we taking this art form and entertaining people and making people feel included and beautiful and accepted.”
Her next goal is to perform at Summerfest.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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