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22
MONDAY
Drag being the last living vestige of cabaret, tonight’s history lesson comes from Gypsy. It turns out that it wasn’t Gypsy Rose Lee but the legendary Faith Dane who inspired RuPaul to become the best-known drag queen today. Faith portrayed Mazeppa, the stripper with the least tease, and when she sang “You Gotta Have a Gimmick” she stole the show on Broadway and, later, on celluloid. Well, this lady diva makes her home in D.C., still performs her cabaret act at age 73, and has declared that she’ll make a third run against Marion Barry for mayor in ’98. I’ll be damned if RuPaul hasn’t nabbed the song as an anthem to drag, but while Miz Thing will always have to keep her truth covered, Faith has given it all up, sporting only a placard reading “FREE D.C.” across her bum. Go to the New Alaska Film Society screening and see her act in the flesh and on film. At 8:30 p.m. at the Black Cat, 1831 14th St. NW. $5. (202) 667-7960. (Ginger Eckert)