Crimson Kitty stands before me, her face beat with dramatic chartreuse eye shadow and her trademark over-drawn lips. We’re in the green room at Dixon Place an hour before her femme dragstravaganza, Ladyqueen, is set to begin. It’s a mild chaos, as the female performers hurry about slipping into costumes, applying final touches to their looks, and sipping on pre-show drinks.
“I don’t like the term bio queen,” states Crimson Kitty, correcting me as we begin to talk about the art of female impersonation. “I much prefer the term lady queen. It’s more inclusive—everyone can be a lady.” When asked why she wanted to produce an all female drag cabaret for Dixon Place’s Hot! Festival, Crimson answers, “Drag is typically such a boy’s club, so we’re taking it back tonight. We want to show that we’re worthy contenders in the drag world.”
Miss Malice of the drag collective Switch n’ Play, shares the sentiment: “Female drag allows us to reclaim our femininity. We get to play with beauty norms and subvert what’s expected of us as women.”
This idea of subverting the norm and reclaiming femininity, to some, is seen as a righteously feminist move. Drag newbie Elle McQueen says that she’s “strong” when performing—she’s “a woman with a voice.” Bambi Galore just comes out and says it: “Female drag is an act of feminism,” she muses. “It says, I’m going to take what you say I should look like as a woman and amp it up to the nth degree.”
As the queens finish up, their looks are loud and beautifully exceed the nth degree. When they perform, it’s raw and exuberant. Standouts include a striking reimagining of Nicole Dollanganger’s “Chapel” from performer Leah James and the final number from Crimson Kitty, in which she mixes a lip sync of Christina Aguilera’s “Fighter” with pre-recorded bits of negative dialogue she’s had flung her way from female drag naysayers. This bold performance puts an earlier statement of Crimson’s into a powerful context: “No one can tell you what kind of art you can do.” As a closing number, it embodies the spirit of the night, and demonstrates the fierceness and strength of these fabulous lady queens.
(Crimson Kitty: “No one can tell you what kind of art you can do.”)
(Leah James: Performing "Chapel")
(Elle McQueen: "When I perform, I’m strong, I’m a woman with a voice.”)
(Bambi Galore: “Female drag is an act of feminism.")