Man Up Moves Out

Reported by Cloe Logan

A decade of drag under its belt, Man Up is celebrating its tenth birthday this weekend and saying farewell to their usual performance space. 

Looming alongside the festivities is the closing of Man Up’s traditional venue, The Cobalt. Paige “Ponyboy” Frewer recently locked down a new location for the monthly drag event— a yet to be announced warehouse location in Strathcona.

“The plan is to move out there, possibly as soon as our May show. We’re going to have a fundraiser party in like late April to try and raise the money to make that happen,” they said.

The venue change has been in the works for several weeks, but Frewer just got the official go-ahead on Friday that they and the two other queer female promoters could start making the space their own.

“You’re actually the first person I’ve told, it’s really exciting,” said Frewer who hopes the space will also be a fun and exciting one for other promoters to work in.

But it’s going to take a lot of work, not only to get people to come to the venue, but also because it needs to be physically built.

“We’re kind of just building it from the ground up physically,” said Frewer who’s excited to build the stage and not be limited by bar owners. “The space has got high ceilings so it feels like it’s this open space of possibility that’s really generated from the community.”

More details about the new venue will be announced soon by Man Up promoters.

“The Cobalt has always been super phenomenal for us, but there will be something different because we’re building this ourselves.”