Parts of Pippi

Aging actor Scot Free gained local notoriety in San Francisco performing comedy drag under the name Pippi Lovestocking starting in the early 1990s. After presenting an onstage a tribute for a recently deceased life-long friend at the Castro Theater in San Francisco, he suffered a cardiac event that led to him becoming a quad amputee. This film tells of Scot/Pippi’s underground past along with the challenges of now living without hands or feet.

Scot Lance Coker was born in the deep south in 1967 and Benson North Carolina was a hotbed of racial injustice. Amidst this climate, a young Scot was an effeminate child who endured much bulling. Escaping to college in Wilmington NC placed him in an environment of creativity where he flourished. Among other acting roles, he landed a part as an extra in the film ‘Blue Velvet’ by David Lynch. Moving to complete theater studies in Atlanta, Scot embraces gender-bending live performance.

Possessing a desire to be part of radical queer theater, Scot moved to San Francisco in 1989 and met Stefan. They both started performing in drag and Scot performed as Pippi Lovestocking and Stephan became Heklina. The two launched a weekly drag event that featured subversive performance with a punk-rock ethic called ‘Trannyshack.’ Scot then checked himself into a 3-month long alcohol detox program and when he returned, Trannyshack had become Heklina’s baby. This course led Heklina in to the spotlight with great success and Scot became a bit player, in drag and in film work for the next 2 decades.

Scot and Heklina both battled drug and alcohol abuse and both found recovery in 2012. The following years were hard times for Scot which eventually led him to a religious halfway house in Barstow CA after a falling out with Heklina in 2022. In early 2023 Scot learned that Heklina had died while on tour in England with Peaches Christ. Scot/Pippi was asked to speak at the huge Castro Theater memorial. Following his stunning tribute, Scot collapsed in the lobby of the theater. After immediate cardiac surgery Scot was in a week-long coma where he contracted sepsis. When he woke to find his hands and feet had turned black, he and his family agreed to amputation to save his life. Scot now recovers in Palm Springs as a quad-amputee while exploring prosthetic options and learning to live as a differently abled man, with an unshakable desire to continue performing.

Producer/Writer/Director - Robert James

Executive Producer / Fundraiser - Howard Grothe

Producer - Joshua Grannell / Peaches Christ

Writer/Editor - Nick Blond

Cinematographer - Rudy Behrens

Videographer - Alan Carvalho