Queering the Way

Darrin Hagen is a freelance playwright, writer, composer, performer, director and Drag Artiste. He is also the artistic director of the award-winning independent theatre company Guys In Disguise, Canada's leading theatre company when it comes to cross-dressing comedies, and which not only co-produced the L&Q Cabaret for 2 decades, but also tours and promotes Queer theatre across Canada and in the U.S. He has spent decades researching the LGBTQ history of Edmonton and transforming it into theatrical productions, bus tours, and photo exhibits. He is the author of The Edmonton Queen: The Final Voyage, and Tornado Magnet: A Salute to Trailer Court Women, as well as the editor of Queering the Way: The Loud & Queer Anthology, all published by Brindle & Glass Publishing. Plays by Hagen include The Empress & The Prime Minister; Witch Hunt at the Strand; BitchSlap!; The Neo-Nancies: Hitler's Kickline; Buddy; With Bells On; The Glory, The Fury; Inventing Rasputin; Tornado Magnet and The Edmonton Queen. He has received seven Sterling Awards for his work in Edmonton Theatre. Witch Hunt at the Strand and Buddy were both nominated for Sterling Awards for Outstanding New Play; With Bells On was nominated for a Betty Mitchell Award and a Sterling Award for Best New Play; and The Edmonton Queen received a Sterling Award for Outstanding New Fringe Work. Hagen also received an AMPIA for Best Male Host for his work on the Life Channel Series Who's On Top?

He was recently named by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts as one of the 25 most influential artists in Alberta in the last 25 years. He was inducted into the Q Hall of Fame Canada for his contribution to Queer culture. In 2005, Hagen was named as one of 100 Edmontonians of the Century to mark the city's centennial. His name came alphabetically after Gretzky. To the best of his knowledge, he's the only Drag Queen on that list.