GREENSBORO, N.C. — Sometimes it’s the theatrics, sometimes it’s the people and sometimes it’s just the money.

“I got involved with drag because I had to pay the rent and I got hungry,” drag queen Fuscia Rage said.

What You Need To Know

  • Fuscia Rage is one of the longest-tenured drag queens in Greensboro — she’s been doing it since 1999 in the city

  • The Guilford Green Foundation has been hosting drag queen bingo for over a decade

  • The event had to take a two-year hiatus because of the pandemic

No matter how you become a drag queen, it’s a very outrageous lifestyle. You wouldn’t recognize one during the day. But the minute the makeup brush hits the face, they’re hard to miss – like Fuscia Rage, one of the drag queens in Greensboro.

“We were with a group of friends, and one of them was like, ‘Damn! That’s fuchsia!'” she said. “And (a fellow queen) just whipped around and was like, ‘Yes, it’s all the rage.’”

Fuscia has been doing drag since she was about 18 and in Greensboro since 1999.

“You would think it’d be rather difficult, but it’s not. I think the LGBTQ+ community here in Greensboro is kind of, I don’t want to say tight-knit,” she said. “But they’re probably a bit closer than in other cities, like in Raleigh or Charlotte where it’s a bit more scattered.”

It takes hours to get ready for a show. Eyebrows, lots and lots of makeup, some tape, it all adds up. You might not think so, but drag can be very competitive.

“Well, it can be very much a competition, especially if you do this for a living,” Fuscia said.

For the first time in nearly two years, the competition flowed freely at Piedmont Hall on March 4.

“Green Queen Bingo!” Fuscia said excitedly. “Guilford Green’s Green Queen Bingo.”

The Guilford Green Foundation & LGBTQ Center has hosted drag queen bingo for over a decade. But because of the pandemic, there was a long hiatus.

“Oh my gosh, it was no drag, no bingo,” Fuscia said. “It was empty.”

So, it was a celebration of everything they’ve been through the past two years.

“It was absolutely amazing, the energy of the crowd is absolutely wonderful,” Fuscia said. “I’ve missed bingo, and I don’t know what I’ll do should I ever leave.”

That’s something she doesn’t plan on doing anytime soon.

If you missed this session’s drag bingo, there will be another one in Greensboro in May. Even sooner this month, in Raleigh and Charlotte, there will be drag queen bingo, as well.