Arts & Entertainment
‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ world tour stops in D.C. on Aug. 6
‘WERQ the World’ returns live drag performance to country’s largest stages
Some of the most popular queens from “RuPaul’s Drag Race” will perform live at National Harbor outside D.C. on Aug. 6 as part of the official “WERQ THE WORLD”tour.
In recent months, drag queens have received significant media attention, much of it from right-wing figures criticizing events like Drag Queen story hours and brunches. However, the colorful, creative performances continue to be wildly popular, and this year’s “WERQ THE WORLD” tour marks the return of RuPaul’s live U.S. tour after a COVID-enforced hiatus.
“In this year’s live production, an experiment gone wrong sends audiences spiraling through time with no way of returning to 2022,” publicity representative Jeff Dorta said in an email to the Blade. “The queens will whisk fans on a magical journey through iconic periods of history in hopes of returning them safely home.”
The Blade spoke with Daya Betty, a Season 14 finalist on “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and one of the queens who will be performing in D.C., who talked about getting started in drag, her “WERQ THE WORLD” experience so far and how drag performance unites audiences.
“I’m a Type One diabetic — that’s actually where my name comes from — and I started out in a small town called Springfield, Missouri,” Betty said. “There’s not a lot going on there, except for a college and lots of little dive bars, which is actually where I got my start. I didn’t get my start in a gay bar like a lot of other drag queens do. I got started in a biker bar, which is pretty fun and very telling of the Midwest.”
“Being in the Midwest and growing up queer, you kind of have to create your own family with your own friends and build your own community,” Betty continued. “That’s really where my passion for drag stemmed from and what caused me to audition for the show.”
BLADE: Drag has gotten a lot of media attention lately — some of it negative. In your experience, what is the best part of being a drag queen?
DAYA BETTY: Being from a small town, I didn’t really see a lot of queer people on TV or in magazines, I felt like I was kind of sheltered away from that. So, the fact that drag queens are literally being showcased on TV shows, on billboards, in fashion spreads, they’re walking in fashion week — I think it’s cool to see not only drag in the regular sense but drag in the mainstream and in common things.
It’s so true what people say — as long as we are putting ourselves out there and we’re letting our faces be shown, there’s always going to be critics and people that that don’t want to look at us. But I think that in a sense this makes us work harder, and when we do get to be featured in mainstream things, it makes it that much sweeter.
BLADE: What is it like to be part of “WERQ THE WORLD 2022,” and what features make this year’s tour special?
BETTY: It’s not just queens from one particular season of “Drag Race” — you can see queens from as early as season 6. We each have our own personalities, and that is very much reflected in the numbers that we create. That’s something I really like about WERQ THE WORLD — we have a huge say in what we perform, what we do and what we get to showcase — and ultimately just get the best representation of who we are and what we stand for individually.
We did Radio City last night, and I think we almost sold out Radio City Music Hall, so just the fact that that’s a thing right now is insane and super, super cool. It shows the level of professionality that not only the queens have, but everyone — the tech, the crew. We like to say it’s as if drag and a Broadway musical were somehow mashed together. It’s a production, it’s more than just your local bar gig.”
BLADE: Have you had a favorite part of the tour so far?
BETTY: I think just being able to be around people again — being able to see people and being able to connect with people one-on-one. During the pandemic we did a lot of digital drag, but it’s not the same as having a face-to-face performance or a face-to-face conversation. Not to sound too cliché, but really we live off of that live energy that the crowd likes to give us.
Although WERQ THE WORLD did a European tour during summer 2021, this summer is the first time the live tour has performed across the United States since 2019. Daya Betty said that stopping at cities throughout the country has made the world feel much smaller, as she notices what their audiences have in common.
“You think the world is such a big place, but the more you travel around and meet people, you realize that everybody just likes to smile and have a good time,” Betty reflected.
BLADE: How does drag performance bring people together, and what makes it such a beloved space for the LGBTQ community?
BETTY: I think it’s just watching people be authentic and be true to themselves — people putting themselves out there and then being recognized for it and being able to create a career and support themselves financially off it — that’s such a cool thing that we’ve created as a community,” Betty said. “Just like when you watch a television show, you connect with certain characters because you see little parts of yourself in them — I think that’s why.
It is so fabulous to be on a huge stage and have this big platform, but I think at the end of the day, we’re all drag queens; we come from the same place, we all started in bars or local clubs. I think we need to put just as much respect on people that have been on TV or drag queens that are in mainstream media and on local performers as well, because that’s where we all start and that’s where we all learn.
The Petal Release Party and Drag Show was held at Spark Social on Friday, July 31. Performers included Tiara-Missou, Labianna and Darcy de la Cuadra.
(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)
Celebrity News
Madonna headlines World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam
Kylie Minogue made surprise appearance alongside gay icon
AMSTERDAM — Madonna on Sunday headlined the final night of the World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam.
The gay icon took the stage shortly before 2:30 a.m. local time (8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday) during Club Confessions, a set that MISTR, a telehealth platform that offers free access to PrEP, Doxy PEP, STI testing, and long-term HIV care, organized.
“Mother is here and this is gay heaven,” said Madonna when she took the stage inside Amsterdam’s AFAS Live concert hall that can hold up to 6,000 people.
Stuart Price, who produced Madonna’s 2005 “Confessions on a Dance Floor” album and “Confessions II,” which debuted on July 2, DJed the set.
Kylie Minogue made a surprise appearance. She and Madonna performed a new remix of “Love Sensation” from “Confessions II.”
(Washington Blade video by Michael K. Lavers)
“Throughout my career, I’ve always supported efforts to fight HIV and AIDS, and that fight begins with education and access,” said Madonna in a MISTR press release. “With MISTR, (CEO) Tristan (Schukraft) is expanding access to HIV prevention and sexual healthcare for everyone. Through this work, he’s helping preserve and strengthen LGBTQ+ spaces while investing in the communities and culture that have long sustained us.”
Minogue in an Instagram post thanked Madonna, Price, Schukraft, and MISTR.
Madonna appeared at The Abbey in West Hollywood, Calif., in April. Madonna in June celebrated Pride month with a pop-up performance in New York’s Times Square.
Jake Resnicow and Insomniac produced the World Pride Music Festival that also featured Bebe Rexha and Paris Hilton, among others.
“Pride has always been about bringing our community together,” said Resnicow. “At a moment when too many people are being told to hide or make themselves smaller, gathering openly, joyfully, and without apology matters more than ever. I couldn’t be prouder of what this festival brought to life in Amsterdam — one dance floor, completely free.”
Theater
Reggie White relishing first season as artistic director of Woolly Mammoth
First five shows a reminder that ‘pressure is a privilege’
Madly talented and preternaturally energetic, Reggie D. White, 38, is about to launch his first season as artistic director of D.C.’s boundary-pushing Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.
White brings a lot to the job. As actor, playwright, and director, his varied resume includes a 2019 Broadway acting debut in Matthew López’s Tony Award–winning play “The Inheritance,” his semi-autobiographic play “Fremont Ave.” that opened to acclaim last season at Arena Stage, and a number of exciting regional directing credits.
A longtime admirer of Woolly, the out theater-maker was selected from a pool of candidates before receiving the offer last November and starting work in January. His season of five world premieres kicks off with gay playwright Steve Yockey’s “Venus” (Sept. 9-Oct. 4), a darkly funny study of modern relationships told through two lesbians looking back on their first encounter.
White was introduced to Woolly Mammoth as a pre-law student at Cal State Hayward in the San Francisco Bay Area, long before he foresaw a life in the arts. “As part of a random theater history course, I was assigned to write a paper on a counterculture company called Woolly Mammoth,” he recalls “Strange name. I was like what the hell is that?”
Nineteen-year-old White was intrigued. Research acquainted him with Howard Shalwitz who co-founded Woolly in 1980, and the company’s commitment to living playwrights and new work. He also learned how theater could be used as a tool for difficult conversations and shape the way people thought about social issues by employing imagination and rigor.
“Never in a million years did young me envision that one day I’d be Woolly’s third artistic director in its 46-year history,” says White. “It’s kind of serendipitously insane.”
WASHINGTON BLADE: Was there a moment when the enormity of the job hit you?
REGGIE D. WHITE: After I’d signed my contract and finished all the paperwork, I got my keys and sat in the theater by myself in the dark and thought about what an incredible honor it is to be trusted with what happens in this beautiful space [in D.C.’s Penn Quarter]. I might have cried. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to remember it’s real.
BLADE: Are you curating the upcoming 2026–2027 season?
WHITE: Yes, I am. It’s very rare that an incoming artistic director gets to program their first season, but I was lucky in terms of time. After being hired late last year, I asked Woolly’s managing director Kimberly E. Douglas, if she thought it would be crazy if I programmed the season. She warned me it would be hard.
I invoked tennis legend Billie Jean King’s maxim “pressure is a privilege” and got to work.
These plays [dubbed White’s “first five”] represent both the kind of theater that Woolly can do really well and speak directly to my voice as curator and how I want to contribute to the larger theatrical conversation in the DMV.
Getting here has meant a lot of late nights. But I knew the juice would be worth the squeeze.
BLADE: As a queer artistic director, what makes you unique?
WHITE: When I was playing in “Inheritance” on Broadway, after a performance, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sotomayer came backstage to meet the cast. She spoke about how her lens on the world as a Puerto Rican woman shapes her decisions. Similarly, because I’m a queer Black man I see through a lens that shapes my work.
I know I’m not the only queer artistic director in town. For me, it influences how I make editorial decisions. Out of this season’s five plays there are explicitly queer characters in four [“Venus,” “Chanukkah Spectacular,” “Ten Grand,” and “Love I Awethu Further”] and I’m directing two [“Venus,” “Ten Grand”].
BLADE: Will we see familiar faces?
WHITE: Every show this season will feature a Woolly Mammoth company member in its cast. Our company also includes designers and directors who we’ll include. I’m invested in continuing to provide a showcase for their work.
BLADE: How do you think queer audiences will receive the season?
WHITE: Very well, I think. For queer people who’ve had to navigate the world subversively and solve problems in unique ways, I think it will be especially interesting. I find theater a potent place for questions.
Like all artistic directors. I’ll show up for the job in my own way. I’m just excited that I’ve been invited to bring the fullness of myself to the role.
PHOTOS: Petal Release Party
Madonna headlines World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam
Reggie White relishing first season as artistic director of Woolly Mammoth
PHOTOS: Amsterdam Pride Canal Parade
Amsterdam Pride Canal Parade draws hundreds of thousands
BLADE ENDORSEMENT: Susan Stewart for mayor of Rehoboth Beach
PHOTOS: Lambda Legal in the Pines
Calendar: July 31-August 6
Taiwan’s government has failed to update process to change gender markers on ID documents
