One of the perks of school in Wallingford was the quaint little restaurant of Julia’s. Half priced cookie day, soups and sandwiches, and the warm, aromatic interior created a family-friendly meeting spot.

Now, travel to the Julia’s on Broadway on a Friday or a Saturday night. Although the tables, menus, and logos look about the same, there is a noticeable difference in the design of this location. For one, there is a large, packed bar. People are watching a performance on the prominent stage against the wall, and on the platform, amidst a flurry of sparkling colors, a group of heavily make-upped drag queens sing and dance their hearts out as the audience cheers.

A group of female impersonators, a few back up dancers, and a “faux queen” (a woman pretending to be man pretending to be a woman) make up the cast of Le Faux, a cabaret show performed on weekends at Julia’s.

Sitting at a wooden table at 12:30 am, we smiled awkwardly at the waitresses wiping down tables and vacuuming carpets, feeling oddly out of place. Finally, a man walked by, texting furtively and pushing his long dark ringlets out of his eyes. We asked if he knew any of the Female Impersonators; his face lit up as he nodded, and as we explained our quest, he rushed back stage, beckoning us to follow.

“I’m Chris,” the man said. “I’m a backup dancer. You should know that this is really special – we never let people back here! And remember… it’s Female Impersonators, not Drag Queens.”

Climbing down a narrow wooden staircase, we arrived at the den. Two men clad only in towels sat in front of brightly lit mirrors, wiping layers of make up off their faces.

“Heyyyy,” one of them said, turning in his chair and smiling brightly, “I looove your tights! Those are darliiiing!” The rest of the room eyed my tights, nodding in approval and offering bits of praise.

After explaining that we wanted to interview them for a high school paper, they settled back down, ready for questioning. A thin man with dark hair sat on the left.

“My name is Smokee,” he explained, “and that’s with two ‘e’s! No ‘y’! During the show, I play Cher.”

The other man, we soon learned, was called Robbie Turner.

“I play so many roles,” he said excitedly, “but mostly Liza Minnelli.”

“How did you start performing?” we asked.

“ Well,” Turner replied, “I grew up in Centralia, but then I went to school in New York. Unfortunately, my mom got ill so I moved back to Washington. One of my friends was putting on a drag show. He was like, you’d be a perfect Liza Minnelli! So I came and tried it, and it was so fun. The next night I stuck around, and participated in the Gay Pride Parade here. Everyone was like, ‘go girl!’ Now I’m a veteran of the show.”

“Do you have daytime jobs?” We inquired.

“Of course,” Smokee said. “I work at Bank of America. Robbie is one of the head managers of Red Light, and he also works at Sephora.”

“We have a whole bunch of regulars here on Saturdays,” explained Turner. “Once in a while, we’ll get a new person in the show, or a new song; the audience goes wild. During those weeks, we practice everyday, but usually we only practice on Tuesdays.”

“What’s your favorite part of doing the show?” we asked.

“I like the impersonations,” said Turner. “Singing the songs and acting it out is so fun. I think my favorite is Liza Minnelli; the part is very active. The difference is also exciting, getting to be someone else for a couple nights a week.”

“Do you do your own makeup?” we asked.

“OH yes, we do all of this ourselves,” Smokee said pointedly. “It’s our form of art… it takes quite a long time.”

“Do you get your nails done?” we pointed at Turner’s blood red fingernails.

“Oh, no,” he giggled modestly. “This was just like, a terrible last minute job. I was like, doing them five minutes before the show! Whose pants are these?” He asked suddenly, picking up a pair of men’s trousers from his desk.

“They have a name in them,” said Chris nonchalantly, passing by. “They pay us in rice here,” he smiled at us. We giggled nervously, unsure of how to respond.

“Well, I’m off,” cried Turner, jumping up from his seat, now fully dressed. “You should come again next week and bring all your friends! Buy tickets early because on Saturdays the lines can be huge.”