A sold-out show at the Hult Center is the last hurrah for the female impersonators of “Damsels, Divas, and Dames”

A sold-out show in the Soreng Theater at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts on April 30 will be the last hurrah for Damsels, Divas, and Dames, a lively show of female impersonation that had gone on for more than two decades until the pandemic ended its run. Information distributed by organizer Bill Sullivan, whose stage name is Daphne Bertha Storm, indicates that the longtime event has run its course, except for this one last gala performance.

One of the most dazzling and sizzling perennial performers throughout the history of Damsels, Divas, and Dames has been Cornel Hardiman, who couldn’t be reached in person in time to update his activities for this story.

However, his Facebook page indicates that he will be part of the last performance of Damsels, Divas, and Dames, and that he still performs in various locations and shows around Eugene.

It also contains the news that he is remarried, to Michael Harris.

Following is an excerpted personality profile of Hardiman that appeared originally in The Register-Guard on March 30, 2014. Dates and ages do not reflect the intervening eight years, but you can do the math.

Here’s the profile:

By Randi Bjornstad

He calls himself a female impersonator — drag queen has kind of an over-the-top image, Cornel Hardiman says — but either way, when he gussies himself up as a woman, he is a knockout.

The 43-year-old grocery store employee will be transforming himself into his alter ego, Karress Ann Slaughter, when the Imperial Sovereign Court of the Emerald Empire, or ISCEE, puts on its 15th annual fundraiser at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday.

The event raises money for the HIV Alliance, the Eugene nonprofit group that supports those living with HIV and AIDS. It aims to prevent new HIV infections through advocacy and education.

Hardiman got interested in drag when he first saw the 1993 film “What’s Love Got to Do with It” with Angela Bassett re-creating singer Tina Turner’s life and times.

“I always loved Tina Turner — she symbolized a lot of the strong women in my life, like my mom and my aunts and my cousins,” he says, “and when I saw how much Angela Bassett had studied her and become her, I wanted to do that.”

Plus, Turner did upbeat, rock songs and a lot of crazy dancing, “and she was known for her legs. People have always told me I have great legs,” Hardiman says, laughing.

In a way, female impersonation helped save him when his marriage broke up.

“My wife and I got married when we were 19, and we have three daughters,” he says. “When we separated, they all moved to Portland, and suddenly I had a life with a lot of empty time in it. I was used to working 40 or 50 hours a week and being a father and husband. When that changes, it’s really hard.”

He identifies as homosexual, Hardiman says, but he still has great fondness for his ex-wife and remains in contact with her. He’s also closely involved in the lives of his three daughters, who range in age from 19 to 23, as well as his 3-year-old granddaughter.

In fact, when his daughters were in their teens, they used to perform as backup for his various performances, including the Hult Center fundraiser, now in its 15th year. He and his oldest daughter both work at The Kiva in downtown Eugene.

“My daughters have known from childhood about my sexual orientation,” Hardiman says.

“Back when they were young, and anti-gay groups like the Oregon Citizens Alliance were saying really bad things about homosexuals, I decided it was better for me to educate them than have someone else interpreting my life for me.”

Even now, though, when people find out he once was married and has children, “They sometimes ask things like, ‘Did you fake it?’ or, ‘Were you just using her?’ ” he says.

“I tell them that’s not the way I was raised — I was raised to respect women more than anything else in my life. Maybe that’s why I enjoy this kind of performance so much.”

While Tina Turner drew him into the drag scene, he’s since expanded to perform many other characters, from Diana Ross to Whitney Houston to Janet Jackson. Beyoncé is on his list for future impersonation.

“When I first started out, I sometimes went out with my friends in drag, just to get the idea of how to do it, how it felt to act as a woman and how other people would react to me,” Hardiman says. “I started performing by myself, and gradually I got involved with ISCEE.”

It’s a bit of a complicated group, organized in adoptive “families” who mentor new people and bestow a drag family name on them.

In Hardiman’s case, he was befriended by a drag “mother,” Estée Slaughter, and her “daughter,” Diva Simone Slaughter — one of the hosts of the Hult Center show — who asked him to take their last name and join their drag family.

“I was really flattered,” Hardiman says. “I was just on my own, and I didn’t have a drag name yet. A bunch of people started suggesting first names, and then one day a DJ I knew said, ‘How about Karress?’ ”

He probably knew from a young age that he was gay, but Hardiman didn’t “come out” until he was in his mid-20s.

“I remember when my mother asked me if I was gay, not that she was concerned about it,” he says. “I didn’t say yes, but I told her I did shows. She asked me if I wanted to be a female, but I said no, I just liked the transformation.

“She said she just wanted me to be happy.”

The reaction of his father — really a stepdad but the man who had raised him since he was 8 years old — was even more touching.

“He knew what the situation was, but he was silent,” Hardiman recalls. “Then one day, he was sitting in his recliner with the remote in his hand and he asked me to get him a beer.

“He was looking straight ahead at the TV, and he said, ‘Are you OK? I mean, really, I want you to be happy, I want you to be safe and OK.’

“It was weird,” Hardiman says. “I just sat there — I didn’t know what to say — it was really an emotional moment.”

The two talked, “And it was the best talk we ever had,” he says. “He told me, ‘I know you know I’m here for you.’ It was the best thing he has ever said to me.”

Hardiman’s mother died 13 years ago. His dad still lives in Tacoma, where the family settled after military postings that included Germany and Texas.

When Hardiman performs, he creates his persona from his collection of more than a dozen wigs of myriad colors and styles, an array of dresses and shoes that range from 5-inch stiletto heels to even higher platforms.

“Learning how to move in heels like that takes a lot of practice,” he says. “Doing really energetic dances in them is a lot of work.”

Above: Local female impersonators performing as Glamazons appear frequently in Eugene at venues including Cowfish Cafe & Club. Longtime drag artists Bill Sullivan and Cornel Hardiman are second and third from the left.