Chicago drag performer Shea Coulee is set to premiere her short fashion film, Lipstick City, May 1 at 7 pm at Soho House Chicago, 113-125 N. Green St. The film features the majority of Chicago’s finest drag performers, including Kim Chi, current season-8 contestant on LogoTV’s Rupaul’s Drag Race. The event will feature performances by Coulee, Valentine Addams, DiDa Ritz, and Lucy Stoole, all queens who acted in the film. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Coulee and her team, Kelly Schmader and Dan Polyak.
The story of Lipstick City follows high-end fashion model Miss Coulee, who discovers evidence that her powerful husband, Mr., isn’t the faithful man she thought she married. Miss Coulee teams up with dancer and ally, Shea, to go underground into a glamorous and gritty world run by powerful entrepreneur, Chic, to exact her revenge.
Coulee plays the two starring roles, with each character representing a side of her drag persona.
“This project is an important chance to showcase the capabilities of Chicago drag and a particular moment in time for a vibrant artistic community,” Coulee said. “One of our goals was to display the incredible range of diverse talents in our scene.”
Coulee conceived of the film in July 2015, and worked with her team Dan Polyak and Kelly Schmader to write, fundraise, direct, and produce the film over the course of the end of 2015. Lipstick City is a Dark Barrel Media production, filmed by Brian Morgan. The film will be distributed by Open TV (beta). Open TV is a Chicago-based platform for television by indie arts and artists run as a research project by Northwestern University professor Aymar Jean Christian.
A special afterparty will be held at Queen! at Smart Bar, 3730 N. Clark St.