Local Natives Featured in MLT’s “Dragsgiving”

By Bonnijean Cooney Adams
The Tube City Almanac
November 26, 2025
Posted in: Entertainment

McKeesport native Joey Young is a rising star in the drag community nationally and winner of several prestigious competitions. (Submitted photo)

Coincidental phone calls led to a local collaboration between two successful McKeesport native drag queens, resulting in “Dragsgiving” this Saturday at McKeesport Little Theater.

Pittsburgh’s First Lady of Drag Kierra Darshell, who grew up along Union Avenue not far from the theater, said she had an idea for a show over the Thanksgiving weekend and was looking for a venue.

McKeesport Little Theater Juniors alum and McKeesport Area High School grad Joey Young is a rising star in the drag community, having recently won the Miss Blue Moon competition and prestigious national/international Miss Continental Newcomer title.

“Kierra called me and said ‘Hey, I have this idea and I’m working on a venue,’ “ Young said. “Then I got a call from Bry Zanotelli (of MLT) who said, ‘I got a call from a drag queen in Pittsburgh who wants to rent the theater’ — how ironic.

“When I get a call from a Pittsburgh legend, and her being from McKeesport, that made me feel so connected, so happy about that moment. I was honored,” Young said. “I love the Little Theater – I grew up there and I learned so much.”

Pittsburgh’s First Lady of Drag, McKeesport native Kierra Darshell, will perform in "Dragsgiving" at McKeesport Little Theater. (Submitted photo)

“I was born in McKeesport and stayed there until I was 25,” Darshell said. “I had a lot of family who lived in McKeesport. I never went to Downtown Pittsburgh until I was a teenager. You could walk to all the department stores in McKeesport to find whatever you wanted.

“I’m really looking forward to the show (Dragsgiving),” she said. “I picked that time (Saturday, Nov. 29 at 7:30 p.m.) because I thought it would be nice for those who come back home for the holiday to be able to come and see it.”

Darshell said she got into the drag scene kind of by accident.

“I was just starting to come out in the 1980s, and AIDS was so new and it hit the gay communities so hard,” she said. “There was a drag AIDS benefit show, and I got involved. Back in the day, some people lost their jobs and sometimes housing when they were diagnosed with AIDS.”

While maintaining a day job, Darshell’s involvement and influence in the Pittsburgh drag community and beyond continued to grow.

She is a producer/host at the Greer Cabaret Theater showcasing diverse and inclusive performers, creator/producer/host of Pittsburgh’s Drag Community Honor Show, the opening act and model at the annual Ecolution Fashion Gala at Pittsburgh Carnegie Museum, just to name a few connections.

Darshell is recognized as an innovator in the drag community, and mentor for drag performers. She said among her career highlights, she was the opening act for legendary singers such as Patti Labelle, Gloria Gaynor, Martha Reeves, and Christine Ebersole. She also was the first drag queen featured in the Icons of Pittsburgh annual magazine.

In 2024, Darshell was the producer and host for the first drag show during New Year’s Eve Highmark First Night Pittsburgh celebration.

“I always loved theater,” Darshell said. “When my sister was an intern in New York City, I went to visit her and saw ‘Dreamgirls’ on Broadway, and that totally changed my life.”

She said the high-energy “Dragsgiving” will be a mixture of Pop, R&B, Soul, and Broadway tunes. “I do characters, including Diana Ross, and Joey sings. I just met Joey a couple years ago, and I love booking new performers. I was just blown away. I thought, ‘This is a star being born right here in Pittsburgh.’”

Young started performing locally at a very young age, including chorus and school shows throughout elementary, middle school, and high school, and with MLT’s Juniors program.

“I started with the Juniors when I was 9,” she said, following in her older sister’s footsteps. She’s been in “James and the Giant Peach,” “Snow White,” “Little Mermaid,” and back in 2014 in “Shrek Jr.,” – an upcoming Juniors show – cast as Farquaad, among his school and MLT shows.

“I grew up different,” Young said, ‘and I knew that. And they recognized that at McKeesport Little Theater. I was this young, little kid, but I had this presence, and Little Theater was the first place I found my purpose.

“I was supposed to be Ursula my senior year (in “Little Mermaid” at McKeesport Area High School), but then Covid hit.”

She started recording and releasing music as a solo artist in her late teens. By 2019, Young was performing as a singer/songwriter on the queer scene. She described it as doing small, part-time work outside of drag, while her drag persona was evolving.

“I was fortunate to meet Kierra in my early stages,” Young said. “I embraced drag full throttle at 21, 22.”

She said her family is supportive, even traveling to Chicago for the Miss Continental competition.

At the age of 24, with her growing success, especially over the past year, Young said drag “pretty much is full time. And with every little success, I represent McKeesport. I actively reference McKeesport and the Little Theater.”

Reflecting on what it will be like to be back on the MLT stage, Young got a little nostalgic.

“I want it to be somewhat of a surprise (what she performs),” Young said. “It’s going to be such a special moment for me. I hope someone who attends feels like they can see themselves in me, that somebody from here has made it a career.

“It’s me giving back to the space that I’ve been a part of. I hope it just stands as an example – in drag or just as a creative artist,” she said. “I still remember the feeling of the blackout, looking out of the curtain and seeing the faces of my family. It made me feel so loved.

“I really needed that stage,” she said. “I cannot tell you how excited I am to be there again.”

Bonnijean Cooney Adams is a freelance contributor. She can be reached at adamsclick@aol.com

Originally published November 26, 2025.

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