Wigstock
Wigstock is an annual outdoor drag festival that began in the 1980s in New York's East Village. The name references the 1969 Woodstock Festival.
Emceed by co-creator Lady Bunny, the festival was held in its first years in Tompkins Square Park. As the crowds grew each year, the festival was moved, first to Union Square Park , then to piers on the Hudson River. Lady Bunny said that 2001's Wigstock would be the last, but in 2003, Wigstock returned to Tompkins Square, this time under the auspices of the Howl Festival.
In 1995, the documentary "Wigstock: The Movie" was released. It has been criticized by Wigstock insiders for focusing too heavilly on Alexis Arquette (brother of actors David Arquette, Patricia Arquette, and Roseanna Arquette), who lives in Los Angeles and has never been closely associated with the festival. The documentary shares its title with an earlier film made by East Village video artist Tom Rubnitz in 1987. The earlier film captures the event's early improvised, rock 'n' roll atmosphere; early years of Wigstock often made direct reference to Woodstock, and Rubnitz film mimics aspects of the famous Woodstock documentary. The festivals captured in the 1995 Wigstock documentary are larger and more polished, with rock music largely supplanted by house music, and the influence of the orginial Woodstock festival less evident.
Performers at Wigstock have included
- Lady Bunny
- RuPaul
- Lypsinka
- Cindy Wilson of the B-52's
- Leigh Bowery
- Deborah Harry
- Boy George
- Crystal Waters