American Theatre is proud to be the venue for Theatrical Mustang, an independently produced podcast from actor-writer-activist Woodzick. Each month they bring listeners interviews with unbridled talent and cultural trailblazers from across the country.
Welcome to that most magical and confusing time of year between Halloween and the end-of-year holidays. Woodzick went all-out celebrating. First up, we get to hear from powerhouses Jinkx Monsoon and BenDeLaCreme, revving up for their seventh annual The Jinkx and DeLa Holiday Show, which starts touring the U.S. and Canada on Nov. 7. Their conversation ranges from DeLa’s directing style to how this show set her up for musical theatre success. Woodzick also chats with Seattle-based playwright and queen of horror Kelleen Conway Blanchard about Annex Theatre’s Leave Only Footprints, her participation in The 14/48 Projects, her plays Blood Countess and Kittens in a Cage, and how she finds inspiration from true crime.
BenDeLaCreme is an award-winning theatre and film producer, comedian, director, writer, and global drag icon who continues to reshape and build the drag industry on a major scale. She first rose to international acclaim following superstar runs on RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 6 (2014) and RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 3 (2018), during which she broke multiple series records and earned a spot among the show’s “15 Fan Favorites of All Time.” With her production company, BenDeLaCreme Presents, she has gone on to write, produce, and direct multiple sold-out international tours of The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show, Terminally Delightful, Cosmos, Inferno A Go-Go, and Ready To Be Committed. She’s also the director of Monét X Change’s one-woman show Life Be Lifin’, which premiered at Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2023.
Jinkx Monsoon is a two-time RuPaul’s Drag Race winner, award-winning actor, and recording artist. She made her Broadway debut in 2023 as Matron “Mama” Morton in Chicago, breaking box office records during an extended 10-week run. Most recently, she played Audrey in the Off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors opposite Corbin Bleu, and made her Doctor Who debut as new fan favorite villain Maestro. She’s toured the world performing original cabaret shows with music partner Major Scales, including the hit Off-Broadway sensation The Vaudevillians. Her accolades include the Gregory Award for her portrayal of Hedwig in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the MAC Award for original show The Ginger Snapped, and most recently the “Best Live Theatre” award for The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show at the 2024 Queerties. In 2025, she’ll make her Carnegie Hall debut with Jinkx Monsoon: Live at Carnegie Hall, directed and co-written by BenDeLaCreme.
Kelleen Conway Blanchard is a playwright with a penchant for the creepy and monstrous side of humanity. Her work has been produced at Annex Theatre, MAP Theatre, Seattle Immersive Theatre, Pony World, Seattle Playwright’s Collective, the 14/48 Festival, FringeACT, Seattle Public Theater, and many others. Her 2012 femme-sploitation women’s prison takeoff, Kittens in a Cage, spawned an acclaimed web series. Both her kitschy ’60s horror play, Last Stop on Lilac, and her dark comedy, The Neverborn, were produced at Annex Theatre and her play Blood Countess was recently produced by Spit and Vigor, the Strand Theater, and MAP Theatre.
Download this episode here. The Theatrical Mustang podcast is edited by Travis Rosemarie Curhart-Fischbach. Music by The Morgens using Citizen DJ Project, Library of Congress, National Jukebox.
