Bradford West Gwillimbury resident Sheldon Weisbeker is a professional drag queen entertainer and has been performing all over Ontario for the past several years with his travelling "drag family".
In 2018, Weisbeker held his first official drag queen show at the Queen of Champions bar in Bradford, where he made his debut as performed "Carmen Del Rae".
It was not long before "Carmen" met fellow drag performers who teamed up to become travelling show, "Haus of Devereaux".
The drag family consists of drag mother (also known as ‘the matriarch’) ‘E’Claire Devereaux and three drag sisters: Athena Vegas, Justine D’as, and Jemm Doshay. "E'Claire" acts as a mentor for the family and has won many drag queen pageants over the years.
The Haus of Devereaux’s shows have the ladies impersonating famous female artists like Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, and Jennifer Lopez (Carmen’s favorite!) infused with audience-engaging comedic acts, songs, and dance routines.
“The entertaining part of the shows is what we do best!” explains Weisbeker, who is described by the drag family as a "spicy meatball".
In every show, each entertainer has their own genre of music they perform to. "Carmen" covers musical numbers from the '80s, '90s, and 2000s while "E'Cliare" performs music from the '70s era and the drag sisters stick to newer pop hits.
“Every single entertainer has something to bring to the table, whether it’s through dance moves, comedic timing on the microphone… We all just have huge personalities!” says Weisbeker.
The family have their own costume designer, Rita Benz. Benz is a former professional dancer and makes all the unique and glittery costume attire for the performers. The group even has their own DJ, Miguel Kariotis from Bradford, also known as DJ Tiss.
The team is sponsored by "Rac N Roll" who supplied each entertainer with their own designer pop-up suitcase and "Kiss by Glitter" provides them with garment bag to bring on the road.
The drag performers try to make sure they shop locally as much as possible when shopping for stage wear. "Carmen" gets her false-eyelashes from transgender-owned business, "Dash of Ari".
Weisbeker says he has always had the "stage-personality" for drag shows but never had the opportunity to showcase his talent due to a lack of venues willing to support drag entertainment.
He adds that growing up, he never felt comfortable letting people know he was gay, due to hate crimes against the LGBTQ2+ community.
Weisbeker's mother passed away in 2006, leaving behind him and his father (Stan). The pair have lived in Bradford for the past eight years.
At 16, Weisbeker finally came out to his dad on the night of Halloween.
“Before Carmen was ‘Carmen’, I dressed up, put on a wig and lipstick and told him I was gay,” recalls Weisbeker.
He says his dad has been the most supportive of his drag endeavours. “He just said I hope you’re safe and don’t let anyone treat you wrong.”
“My dad is so accepting of his son being LGBTQ2+,” he says. “When I’m running late, Dad always zips up my final outfit – when you’re on the go, you need someone to zip you up! The big finale is always getting ‘zipped up’.”
During Covid, "Carmen" made several appearances virtually and even participated in “Drag Story Time” with the BWG Library during the month of pride.
Weisbeker was recently featured on Toronto radio station 102.1 The Edge radio station for winning a fan contest. He chose to do the interview on air as "Carmen Del Rae" to help promote drag culture to the station's 30,000 listeners.
“When you have that many listeners, I wanted to break down barriers with this!” he said.
In 2019, Weisbeker supported the 50th anniversary of the "Decriminalization of Homosexuality in Canada" event held at the York Regional Police headquarters in Aurora where his drag family and "Carmen Del Rae" performed on stage for the community and attending officers.
The drag family travels all over Ontario, performing at venues from Barrie all the way down to Toronto.
Every Thursday night, "Haus of Devereaux" performs at The George Brew House on Main Street, Newmarket with a pre-show starting at 8 p.m.
“We had so many successful patio shows over the summer,” he shared. “Our last one, we had almost 60 people, and 20 of those people came right off the street!”
Weisbeker noted many of the audience members are often straight couples.
“I get big burly men shaking my hand at the end of the show… they do a 360 once they realize this is entertainment!” he laughs.
During the day, Weisbeker is a server and bartender at Bradford’s Chuck’s Roadhouse Bar & Grill.
“I want more acceptance (of the LGBTQ2+ community) in the smaller towns," he said. "I want people to bring their children, because they love it too! I want this to be the new norm – hiring a drag family to perform at your wedding – why not? I want the stigma to be destroyed – this is no different than having a clown at your party."
To learn more about the "Haus of Devereaux" members, follow them on Instagram: @carmendelrae @justinedas81 @eclairedevereaux @theathenavegas @jemmdodhay.
