Brian Firkus at Trixie Mattel Credit: Brendon Patrick Brown

Mary Louise Schumacher Art City An online journal about visual art, the urban landscape and design. Mary Louise Schumacher, the Journal Sentinel's art and architecture critic, leads the discussion and a community of writers contribute to the dialogue. SHARE

Milwaukee is not exactly a city known for its robust drag queen community. Yet one of these merry few, Trixie Mattel, a regular performer at Hamburger Mary's, has won a coveted spot on the reality TV show "RuPaul's Drag Race," it was announced Sunday night after the NewNowNext Awards on the Logo cable network.

Brian Firkus, as Trixie, will appear on the seventh season of the show in which drag queens compete to become the next "drag superstar." Trixie's Facebook page filled with words of congratulations just after 8 p.m., after a commercial featuring contestants aired.

"I am very excited because Trixie told me very early on …but I was also so, so scared," said Timothy Westbrook, a Milwaukee textile artist who wrote about Milwaukee's drag scene earlier this year for Urban's Milwaukee's Dial and who appeared on "Project Runway."

"I was very nervous that the big, bad reality TV machine would break him down, but the thing that is so neat about 'RuPaul's Drag Race' is that they are playing characters," Westbook said. "So whatever happens, they can hide behind that character.

"Brian is just so great and charismatic," Westbook said. "I just want to watch."

The show premieres on Jan. 7. The Logo network is described as celebrating "one-of-a-kind personalities," entertaining "gay trendsetters" as well as an "ahead-of-the-curve" straight audience.