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Friday, March 29, 2024
The independent student publication of The University at Buffalo, since 1950

Being a Queen Isn't a Drag

Dante Williams and Tony Coby stare into the mirror: the reflections staring back at them are of a 6-foot-tall black man and a bald Jewish man. They both know that in about two hours the reflections looking back at them will be of beautiful and voluptuous women.

Using dark shades to create new cheekbones and tiny colored pencils to draw eyebrows, the pair uses TV makeup to transform from men to drag queens.

Williams and Coby, now transformed into their drag personas of Monica St. James and Penny Tration, are now ready to entertain.

In contrast to what many people believe about being a drag queen, it is in fact a lot of work. Beneath the colorful and funky exterior is an outrageous and difficult theatrical art form.

These women are professional drag queens at The Cabaret, Tration's drag queen show bar in Cincinnati, which is one of only four venues in the country that hold drag shows four nights a week.

St. James and Tration grew up in a ‘drag area,' according to St. James. Although they never expected to enter the drag career, life experiences paved their way to becoming queens, and that road took them to The Cabaret.

"When I was 7 or 8 years old I always waited up until my family fell asleep [before I dressed up as a girl]," St. James said. "My mother always tells this story of her finding her sheets with holes in them because I would make dresses out of them."

Although St. James avoided dressing up in front of her family as a child, she knows now that everyone close to her approves of her career choice. She has a 16-year-old nephew that has seen her in drag, and has even dressed in drag himself.

St. James has friends with children that do not understand the drag career, however, and that is sometimes difficult.

"That's a part of being a homosexual or being gay – that children often think that every homosexual man is a pedophile," St. James said. "We have to break down barriers to let kids know that this is not a bad thing, what you grow up to be is what you grow up to be. No one is holding a gun to your head saying ‘you're gonna be gay.'"

Not everyone initially understands what a drag show encompasses.

"Of course you have the haters and even people in the gay community who are like, ‘oh these queens are dressing up,'" St. James said. "But they're the first ones to stand up and tip you with a dollar."

Tration doesn't allow the offensive comments to bother her.

"People came to see us, it's not like we forced them," Tration said. "They purposely walked into the room; they're here for a reason. I don't get uncomfortable; I'm not afraid of what they're going to say. We've been doing this long enough that we know how to handle pretty much anybody, and we're also not wilting flowers, we're not standing in a corner. And if someone is potentially offensive, we have the ability to quadruple their offensiveness and hush them."

Tration originally dressed up in female clothing as a joke. Her friends were holding a fundraiser and they thought it would make them money to dress up a little boy in girl's clothing.

"It was great," Tration said. "How awful is it to have all your friends screaming and throwing money at you? When you're standing in front of a screaming crowd of people, it's kind of hard to resist that."

Tration did not plan on entering drag as a business, but she stresses that life sometimes gets in the way of a first blueprint, and that it is crucial to figure something out.

"I've been a project manager my whole life and I got laid off," Tration said. "I had to do something to pay the rent. I had already kind of done [drag], so it could be easy to transition it into something more, but I never thought I would do it for a living. I never thought this was it. But life doesn't really care what plans you make, because something always happens. I mean two planes ran into a building and I lost my job."

Although she knows that plans often fall off track, Tration has a plan for her future. She currently owns a wig company, where she spends most of her days, before she transforms into drag at night. She is married and hopes to turn her shop into a sustainable family business.

Although Tration is married, she doesn't plan on having children.

"To [be a drag queen] you have to be a little selfish," Tration said. "But the thing that I have discovered about me is that I am too selfish to be willing to give up what little bit that I do have for someone else. Because when you have a child your life becomes that child. You are responsible for someone else's life. This person can do nothing without you."

On the other hand, St. James doesn't spend time thinking about new careers for her future – rather she believes in the importance of living in the moment.

"I think I've got to live for now because you never know what tomorrow holds," St. James said. "You just don't know. But as far as the future, I'm going to be doing drag until I'm wheeled out on stage."

Being a drag queen is more than just dressing up and applying makeup, according to Tration. It is years of learning and working hard to become known. Both Tration and St. James worked for free for three years before finally making their names known and receiving paying jobs in the drag scene.

"You work your ass off working for free and hope that the tips are enough to offset the expenses," Tration said. "I worked three years for free. You have to work at least three before you get recognized, because no one's going to pay. If you just walk into a place and say, ‘I'm ready to do a show,' they're like, ‘oh great.' No one can afford to take a risk on you that isn't worth it."

Makeup brushes cost up to $200; custom clothing must be created because men's bodies are crafted differently from women's. Wigs are a must, and shoes that are not off the rack aren't cheap.

"It's truly expensive looking this cheap," St. James said.

But no matter how much makeup is applied or how fabulous the fashion is on these queens, it is difficult for men to truly feel like women.

"People are coming either for their 400th drag show or they've never seen drag before in their life, so you have to think what kind of experience you want to give them," St. James said. "You don't want them to go home all bitter thinking ‘ugh that was kind of stupid.'"

There is never a dull night at The Cabaret. Tration uses her comedic MC skills, and portrays Monica as a ‘classy, sultry, and R&B ebony goddess,' to please the crowds.

"If you're not offending people you're probably not funny, and my purpose is to be funny every night," Tration said.

Because drag queens are in full costume, there is a sense of anonymity on stage. It is this feeling that helps Tration make offensive jokes and call out members of the audience on stage.

"There's certainly a lot of freedom to being in [a costume]," Tration said. "Like you know on Halloween when you're wearing a mask you have a little bit more freedom to act a little more provocative than if you had to be responsible for your behavior walking down the street."

Neither Tration nor St. James finished their college careers because they felt as if being in school tied them down from figuring out exactly what they wanted to do.

"I actually often think that no one should go to school right away," Tration said. "Because you need time to figure yourself out. Take a moment to say, ‘what is it that I want?' There is no rush. You have 80 years to figure this out and you probably won't even have it figured out then. The only timeline that there is, is the one that you put on it."

The crowd that The Cabaret attracts is primarily, but not exclusively, adult gays. In addition, they get a lot of bachelorette parties, and a lot of artistic folks due to the club's urban setting.

"But I always think that the people that we attract to drag shows [need] something to get away from late at night," St. James said. "You know that's the beauty of adult entertainment because you never know what you're going to hear."

Tration and St. James feel as if they never get to see their regulars on a ‘mediocre' night. People either go to the bar when they're at their lowest points because they need the atmosphere as an escape from reality, or at their highest points because they're in a good mood and want to celebrate. The queens then must be on their absolute A-game and help their customers enjoy their getaway.

"We had a woman in the club on Saturday night – she had both of her breasts removed and she was recovering from cancer," Tration said. "I went up to her and just said, ‘congratulations, you're not dead, let's have a drink,' we're not here to wallow in self pity – part of our job is to allow you a bit of respite from that," Tration said.

The most common reaction from strangers is laughter – because people feel uncomfortable and attempt to hide that awkward feeling behind laughter. The second is taking a picture. People that mock drag queens or look down upon the career just haven't had the chance to walk a mile in their heels and see how hard and legitimate the show business actually is, according to Tration. People don't see past the comical exterior and into the theatrical interior of the queens.

"The key is understanding that we don't do anything different from anyone else," Tration said. "The only difference is that we're fun-looking four nights out of the week."

Email: features@ubspectrum.com


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