Kita Mean will be in Palmerston North in October, ready to delight and entertain at Kita Mean's Drag Brunch, as part of Palmy Drag Fest.
Kita Mean will be in Palmerston North in October, ready to delight and entertain at Kita Mean's Drag Brunch, as part of Palmy Drag Fest.
This October Kita Mean is bringing herself and friends Rita Menu and Pinkie Promise to Palmy Drag Fest for Kita Mean’s Drag Brunch. Reporter Alyssa Smith caught up with Kita to find out more.
Shall we start at the start - tell me a little bit about yourself?
Hey darling! I am Kita and I guess I am most well-known these days for being the first winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under. I’ve been doing drag for about 15 years and it’s sort of like a crazy whirlwind of a life ever since I discovered this little thing called drag, which I guess has launched me into life as I know it know it now, a full-time strange lady with a penchant for fun and destruction.
Let’s talk about your name - how did you come up with Kita Mean?
I got Kita, my cat, when I was 21 and thought it would be ironic to name her Kita Mean after the veterinary drug. Cut to when I was probably 24 when I started drag and I was out at a nightclub. I got all dressed up but I didn’t have a name ... I couldn’t think of anything on the fly so I sorta just said my cat’s name.
I remember doing an interview with Paul Henry on live television and he asked me a similar question and I told him where I got it from and told him live on TV, ‘Well Paul as you can see I’m named after my own pussy’. The look on the producer’s faces were like ‘they did not just say that on live television!’.
Let’s talk RuPaul’s Drag Race – congratulations on winning the first season of Drag Race Down Under! Did you go into the competition imagining you would win?
Going into it I knew I was competing against some of the best drag in Australia and New Zealand. Emphasis on Australia as there were some drag artists that I looked up to and admired over there that I still do, obviously. I went into it hoping to do the best I could and to have a great experience and partake in something I’ve been a massive fan of for over a decade. I was going into it bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and really excited.
So tell me about the moment you found out you had won - what was going through your head?
When you film it you don’t know that you’ve won ... They filmed every one of us winning so every one of us stood there and received the crown and every one of us congratulated each other ... So I found out I won when everyone else did when me and my nearest and dearest were huddled around my TV watching it live.
Kita Mean is returning to Palmy Drag Fest and bringing her friends Rita Menu and Pinkie Promise with her.
RuPaul is obviously a complete star, as is Michelle Visage - what was it like working with them?
Michelle Visage and RuPaul are amazing human beings. They’re hardworking, compassionate, talented, charismatic just absolute professional entertainers. I still say that’s what I aspire to be. I’m always growing and always learning and absorbing and trying to better my craft everyday.
From an international show to Palmy - what do you enjoy about visiting towns and cities like Palmy for Drag events?
The beauty of Palmy Drag Fest is that it’s a festival of drag and people are there to love, support and enjoy drag. Stemming from what I was just saying, it’s my entire life and it’s a whole festival of people, a theatre full to the brim of people that just love what I love. That’s community. That’s family. It’s a room full of people that love the same thing and when you’re in a room with that much love and joy, who doesn’t want to be a part of that?
You are being joined by fellow drag queens Rita Menu and Pinkie Promise for Kita Mean’s Drag Brunch at Palmy Drag Fest, what can guests expect at this event?
There’s going to be a ridiculous amount of stand-up comedy. Rita Menu is our resident high-kicking, death-dropping, split-inducing queen. Pinkie Promise is like a glamour girl mixed with new-age charm she’s a super cool mix of Old Hollywood and modern. The way I do drag is like I bring people in ... It’s up close and personal, we’re sitting on your lap, telling you jokes, patting you on the head and kissing you on the cheek. That’s the best part of it you get to like be immersed in it ... There’s definitely audience participation. I like to think every single person is a drag queen waiting to happen.
