QUEER JOY TAKES THE STAGE AT 717 ARTS COMMUNITY CENTER
Award-Winning Documentary, Drag Show, and Tulle Queer Exhibition Converge in Harrisburg's SoMa District
Little Echo Productions and 717 Arts present Amish Country Queer: A Night of Film, Art & Drag, a one-night event at 717 Arts' newly opened Community Center on Saturday, October 10, 2026. The show begins at 7:00 PM at 717 Arts Community Center, 25 S. 3rd Street, Harrisburg, PA, bringing together an award-winning documentary, a celebrated portrait exhibition, and a live drag show for an evening of queer storytelling, art, and community.
We are living through a moment when queer and trans rights remain under sustained and coordinated attack. Pennsylvania is still the only state in the Northeast without explicit statewide nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ residents. The Fairness Act, which would extend those protections statewide, passed the PA House again in 2026 but remains stalled in the Republican-controlled Senate. This legislative session has also brought new bills aimed specifically at drag performance, including proposals to make it a felony to allow a minor to attend a drag show and to reclassify drag as an "adult-oriented business." In that context, Amish Country Queer - and the drag show that follows it - is not simply entertainment. Representation is resistance.
Amish Country Queer is a 13-minute award-winning documentary directed and produced by Colleen C Brady, following Lancaster-based artist Brady Pappas (she/her) and her mission to document and preserve queer nightlife and drag culture in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The film won Best Documentary at three festivals in 2025: the Red Rose Film Festival, the Appalachian Queer Film Festival, and the Jim Thorpe Independent Film Festival. A feature-length version is currently in post-production.
Alongside the screening, Pappas presents a pop-up installation of Tulle Queer, her celebrated portrait series honoring the LGBTQ+ icons of South Central Pennsylvania. Centering queer love, joy, and visibility, the portraits will be on view throughout the evening as a living extension of the film's world. The evening closes with a live drag show featuring Lancaster favorites Charlize Angelz, Nevaeha Le'Vixenn, and Legs Akimbo, bringing 717-region drag culture to the stage for one night in Harrisburg.
"There is nothing frivolous about joy," said Colleen C Brady, director and producer. "When queer and trans people see their lives depicted with fullness and celebration, it fuels the fight for a future where all of us belong."
The event is presented in partnership with 717 Arts, a Harrisburg-based nonprofit dedicated to creating accessible space and support for artists on the margins and fringes of south central Pennsylvania, and takes place at the 717 Arts Community Center, the organization's newly opened home base in Harrisburg's SoMa neighborhood.
Queer stories often center on escape. This one doesn't. And this is where the future gets made. Not at the center, but at the fringes.
Tickets are pay-what-you-can
Follow @AmishCountryQueer on Instagram. Learn more at www.littleechoproductions.com
EVENT DETAILS
Date: Saturday, October 10, 2026
Performance: 7:00 PM
Location: 717 Arts Community Center, 25 S. 3rd Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101
Tickets: Pay-what-you-can, click here to buy tickets
Presented by Little Echo Productions, in partnership with 717 Arts
ABOUT LITTLE ECHO PRODUCTIONS Little Echo Productions is the independent film company of Colleen C Brady, an award-winning documentary filmmaker drawn to underrepresented suburban and rural communities and stories that are quietly radical, life-affirming, and conversation-starting. Their debut feature, Firebird: Built to Burn (2023), won five festival awards and streams on Prime Video and Apple TV. [littleechoproductions.com]
ABOUT BRADY PAPPAS Brady Pappas is an artist and photographer based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Her ongoing Tulle Queer portrait series honors the LGBTQ+ community of the 717 region, celebrating trans love, joy, and visibility in small-town and rural Pennsylvania. [bradypappas.photography]