
Can I get an amen for the latest HBO series starringย RuPaul’s Drag Race alumni Shangela, Bob The Drag Queen, and Eureka O’Hara? These Queens will change the lives of small town inhabitants with their new show, “We’re Here.”
How did the show get its title?
We’re Here’s title is derived fromย the LGBTQ activist organization Queer Nationโs famous chant from the 1990s HIV/AIDS protests: โWeโre here, weโre queer, get used to it.โ Ru’s chosen girls travel to a different part of small-town America for each episode. They partner with one of the locals, get to know them and their families, and provide a crash course in drag.
Who is We’re Here’s target audience?
Co-creator Stephen Warren explained, โIt extends to anyone who doesnโt feel seen. Anyone who feels like their voices arenโt being heard in the mainstream,โ said Warren. Fellow co-creator Johnnie Ingram added , โWeโre coming into your town and weโre putting on a drag show, and weโre going to bring you into our world and weโre going to tell your story to your community through this counterculture.โ
What to expect:
According to Yahoo! Entertainment, “Yes, the show does put people in drag and have them perform a number with three fan-favorite ‘RuPaulโs Drag Race’ alums. And, okay, yes, one participant in the first episode does express interest in pursuing a career in drag. But the wigs and the heels and the makeup are not the point, the showโs stars and producers say. The person who exists beneath all that, and the life they go back to when they step off the stage, thatโs the point.”
โ’Weโre Here’ does not dwell on scenes of the fledgling queens doing things like tucking for the first time or learning to walk in heels. In fact, the majority of the show sees the queens out of costume, spending time with their drag daughters and getting to now them person-to-person. Whether thatโs a young queer man feeling trapped in his hometown or a mother hoping to reconnect with the daughter she had a falling out with or a straight father looking to challenge his own ideas of masculinity,” continued the report from Yahoo! Entertainment.
The star’s origin stories:
Shangela, Bob the Drag Queen and Eureka O’Hara all grew up in small towns, and each said they can relate to the experience of feeling out of place in their hometowns, as featured on the show.
Shangela:
โLooking around, I never saw anyone that I thought was like me,โ explained the fan favorite who grew up in the 25,000-person city of Paris, Texas. โI was a small, gay black kid in a very rural community. Even in television and film, I didnโt see anyone that was out and flamboyant, a little boy doing Beyonce choreography.โ
Bob the Drag Queen:
โThe majority of my life is not competing on โRuPaulโs Drag Race,โ so if anything,ย that was unusual,โ Bob detailed. โThis is just interacting with people as a human, which is what Iโve been doing for 33 years now. So it didnโt seem weird at all.โ
Eureka O’Hara:
โ’At first, I was a little worried,’ noted Eureka. ‘I do like to give advice โ Iโm better at giving it than taking it โ but I was nervous at first. I was like, โOh, my God, Iโm not a psychologist, Iโm gonna try to help these people and end up fโing them up’ ย โฆ but I kind of live and thrive off my interactions with people; itโs kind of what I was built for. And I didnโt realize it until I started doing the show.โ
โWeโre Hereโ premieres Thursday, April 23 at 9 p.m. on HBO.
Which RPDR alumni are you most excited to see on We’re Here? Drop names in the comments!