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PROVINCETOWN GUIDE
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| DIRECTORY |
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Provincetown :: Wednesday, July 23rd 2008
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Video by Michael DiGioia
Drag Kickball '07
A benefit for the Trevor Project
By Kahrin Deines
August 10th, 2007
Kickball leagues have sprung up all over the country in the last few years. But it’s a good bet that nowhere else has a league that plays an annual game with a team comprised of drag queens. The Drag Kickball Benefit Game, which will take place on August 8, is truly an only-in-Provincetown thing.
The game will rematch the Provincetown Kickers, an open league that plays on Wednesdays at Motta Field, against a team of drag queens that includes just about every headliner in town, from Varla Jean Merman to Miss Richfield 1981 and Cashetta. On the drag front, game goers can also expect to see the well-known Provincetown characters Penny Champagne, Sharon Needles, Olive Another, Debbie Downer and Molly Ringworm.
Meanwhile, a number of the town’s leading lady comedians – Poppy Champlin, Jennie McNulty, Lea DeLaria and Rene Hicks – have signed up to referee the event and add their bits to the day’s laugh quotient. The Nellie Olesons and The Hat Sisters will also be present as cheerleaders for the two teams. And, if all that’s not enough, the incredible Suede will also be there to kick off the event by singing the national anthem.
The event debuted last summer with high success, in its first year raising over $4000 for the Provincetown Community Center. This year the goal is to raise twice as much money and the proceeds will be used to support the Trevor Project, a national GLBT suicide prevention hotline for teens, as well as the Provincetown Community Center’s Teen Night.
The Drag Kickball event is presented by the Provincetown Kickers and Laurie Roles Outdoor Fitness. Roles, who started the kickball league last summer, says the idea came to her after a trip to visit family. “I came back from Connecticut and my nieces and nephews had been asking me to play kickball. It’s a neighborhood thing, we always played when I was a kid.”
Then, there was a little research online about kickball leagues, some conversations with friends, Ryan Landry talking the league up at Showgirls every week, and in no time the Provincetown Kickers were a reality.
“The participation rate has been overwhelming. We love when people drop by. It’s an open league, it’s non-judgmental, but it is competitive,” says Roles, who wants to establish the league as a non-profit that raises money for kid’s causes.
“The goal is to help teens and kids that have problems with health and fitness. I think that what’s really cool about it is that it makes us all feel like kids again, too. People think it’s hysterical even when it’s not in drag because we are playing a kid’s game.”
Forecasts about the game’s winner are mixed. The Provincetown Kickers have been in training since the spring and this year’s team captain, Rick Reynolds, is an iron-fisted leader. But even though they promise to present a formidable front, there is some speculation that The Drag Queens may have a few tricks up their dresses, especially with the Mistress of Magic Cashetta on their team. In fact, last year’s game was close to the finish, with the Kickers pulling off a win by only one point.
The 2nd Annual Drag Kickball Benefit Game will kick off at 4 p.m. on August 8 at Motta Field on Winslow Street. The rain date for the event is August 9 and there will be a Post Game Party at The Crown and Anchor’s pool from 6 to 8 p.m. To find out more go to:
Laurie Roles Outdoor Fitness
www.thetrevorproject.org
Provincetown Kickers
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