Paige Turner is rehearsing for her new show "You Don't Own Me" with longtime friends Sutton Lee Seymour and Jackie Cox when we meet. The show debuts during Pride Week.

But before she can get into her routine, the singer and comedian Daniel Kelley needs two hours to transform into the drag queen, Showbiz Spitfire Paige Turner.

"It's amazing how different it looks when you put the wig on," Paige says while finishing off her look with a hairpiece. 

LGBT Pride week is always special for Paige, who started performing at the Pride Parade a decade ago.
 
"Anyone can march in a parade, you don't have to in drag or whatever, it's such an amazing experience. It's so much joy, so much love,” says Paige. “And I'm, like, ‘Isn't this how life should kind of be all of the time?’" 

Turner is a big presence in the local and international drag scene. An early love of clowns and an affinity for Barbie informs her look.

"One day in musical theater class the pianist dropped his music and said, ‘I need a page turner,’ and I said, ‘I'll be your page turner!’" she joked.

She wrote "You Don't Own Me" for Pride week. It's a jukebox musical, a send up of drag and Broadway.

"We’re all theater girls,” she says.  “We’re like the musical theater comedy queens.”

"Doing this pride show has become a tradition in our drag family. Your family might have a summer barbecue, we put on the drag show," Sutton Lee Seymour  says.

"I think that's what pride is all about: celebrating each other and the spirit of our community," said Jackie Cox.

"Deep down I was just that little boy who was scared to show who he was. Now I get to do it in my adult life for a living and it's really wonderful," added Paige.

Paige says as drag has become more mainstream it's encouraged any and every one to come out of their shells.

"I usually ask myself what would Barbie wear!" Paige says while sorting through a rack of clothes.

From her apartment, we followed this spitfire on her unusual commute to work. Fun fact: she actually lives in the same building she works in. All she needs to do is take an elevator down to Laurie Beechman Theater. 

And this makes almost too much sense. Because here on stage, Paige turner really is home.

The show runs June 28th and 29th. For details go to westbankcafe.com.