From Boston to Brooklyn to no doubt Bollywood someday, Desi Doctor of Divadom LaWhore Vagistan is serving content and stage shows that truly give life — including the upcoming return of her epic showcase “Dragistan.” [Cover photo: Davide Laffe ]
Thotyssey: Greetings Ms Vagistan, Happy Summer!
LaWhore Vagistan: Um, it’s Dr. Vagistan! She has a PhD, you know. The season is sweaty, sexy, and thirsty. And I’m happiest when thighs are out! It is busy, though… I’ve got a lot of rhinestones, wig brushing, and track mixing to do before some upcoming shows. How are you, Thotyssey? I’m really such a fan of what you do!
Thank you so much! She’s good and busy and dripping buckets of sweat, lol! And you are quite the admirable institution yourself!
Institution!? Is that your way of calling me old? And if so, that’s fine. I’ve embraced being an aunty.
The Aunty energy is strong! Are you still living in Boston?
I’m already in Brooklyn, actually! Most people summer in New England, I summer in NYC. But it’s true that I’m in Boston for most of the year.
Summers in the city are… something! What’s the Boston drag scene like, for those unfamiliar?
It’s kooky and weird, with a side of cunt. There’s an abundance of very smart and brilliant drag kings such as Rusty Hammer and Jayden Jamison. And there’s also some fierce, fierce, fierce trans women of color who lead the scene including Neon Calypso and Candace Persuasion. Jacque’s Cabaret is still going strong (and still cash only). The drag scene is pretty political, there’s a lot of mutual aid, and some really special shows making room for those left out of the mainstream drag scene: kings, fat artists, POC and indigenous performers.
Sounds like something for everyone!
Where are you from originally, and what sort of pursuits were you interested in growing up?
Oh, we’re going deep? I grew up in Ghana, though my family is from the South Asian subcontinent (I moved to the U.S. when I was 17 for college). Growing up, my mind was set on science… but in my heart, I wanted to be Gretl in the Sound of Music. I loved theatre, fashion, film. My mum was a bespoke fashion designer, so I was always surrounded with Cosmopolitan and Vogue, fabrics and saris. Going to a liberal arts college saved me from the rigidity of science, from the pressure of wanting to be a “good boy,” and study something responsible.
What were your ultimate academic pursuits… and how did you discover drag?
I ended up doing a BA in Sociology and Anthropology, and a PhD in Performance Studies. My academic journey was a series of happy accidents that allowed me to explore all things queer. In my undegrad, I wrote my senior thesis about the gay marriage debates following the Lawrence v. Texas decision. And in graduate school, I researched queer nightlife in India and North America.
I ended up writing a few different books. I wrote Ishtyle: Accenting Gay Indian Nightlife about how queer men use nightlife to cross borders, and cross borders to access nightlife. I wrote about everything from inter-racial desire, to diva worship, to the relationships between the workday and the club night. I also co-wrote a volume of essays called Queer Nightlife that features nightlife stories from across the world, and from many different diasporas: drag kings in rural Cuba, fat fashion in San Francisco, police pretending to be cruising in Mumbai… it’s a really good book. My nightlife research and my drag performance also led me to write Decolonize Drag, reflecting on the political stakes of my favorite artform. I also have a book coming out this fall that’s more of a memoir, about what I’ve learned being an academic drag queen called Lessons in Drag.
I started doing drag in 2009 in Chicago. It was meant to be a one time thing, for a fundraiser. But the party we started called “Jai Ho” kept happening, so I kept performing. But I first saw drag in NYC. In my undergraduate years I’d spend summers here, and I would go and watch Shequida’s “Gayly Show” at Barracuda, I’d go to the 18-and-over nights at Heaven on 16th street, and I was totally enamored with the South Asian queens who performed at Desilicious parties. Those early 2000s nights in New York are so important to me, and the folks who took me to these spaces were friends from the LGBT Center’s Youth Empowerment group. We would spend afternoons in support groups, evenings on the pier, and nights at drag shows and on dance floors.
I started performing in Chicago. And then I was mentored in Austin by a NY favorite, Sabel Scities, after I entered her amazing show called “Drag Class” that paired me with the brilliant Rhonda Jewels who elevated my drag in ways I didn’t know where possible.
You also worked on a short film, right?
Yes! I have a couple of music videos I made several years ago. One was a parody of Justin Bieber’s “Sorry” called “Sari,” about the South Asian garment. It was a song I wrote for Sabel’s “Drag Class,” and then made into a video, and it went niche-viral with South Asian queers. Over the last year, I’ve been working with a fashion designer, artist, and stylist, Nikita Untitle, who has taught me a lot of new things about saris — about the history, structure, and possibilities of this garment. So I thought it was time to revisit the first music video. But actually as we workshopped and developed it, we realized it was less about the parody lyrics than it was about the textiles themselves.
So it became a different kind of film, a short experimental video, that explores how textile and femininity move with each other… how different fabrics shimmer and fold across the body. I mean, this is so crucial to drag — thinking about how our bodies are going to be seen and experienced under the light, how to create silhouettes and sparkle and story. So this new film Sari, Not Sorry, explores the many ways this South Asian garment can accentuate the drag body, through pleating and draping and folding and wrapping. We’re sending it out to film festivals now, so hopefully it will be coming to a screen near you soon!
What are the origins of your showcase “Dragistan?”
In 2023, I was a “Scholar in Residence” at the Fire Island Artist Residency on Cherry Grove. FIAR, especially Jeremy Steinke, knew that I had a background in curating nightlife events and arranged with the legendary Ice Palace for me to host a party. I reached out to desi drag artists from the NYC area, as well as two legendary queer desi DJs, DynAmite and Rekha, to perform. Not a lot of South Asians knew their way around Fire Island, so I went as far as chartering buses and ferries to make sure they felt comfortable commuting to the Island. The night was super super fun, and I knew that night I had to keep it going.
Last year, I hosted “Dragistan” at 3 Dollar Bill in Brooklyn… a little less logistically complicated for me to get audiences there, you know. Last year was also absolutely magical… and now it’s ritual. Everyone expects it every summer! I’m definitely one of the older queens on the scene who is still performing, so it does feel like a kind of responsibility to create spaces where different generations of drag can perform. Last year I featured Bijli, a Pakistani dancer who I used to watch when I was going out in my teens and early twenties. But she hasn’t been on the scene for a while. It was so special for me to show drag babies her brilliance. She did not disappoint. But also I love making space for newer artists, and “Dragistan” has even featured a couple of drag debuts. One of the missions of the night is to reach across the Subcontinent, and not just showcase Indian or Pakistani performance… we’ve had / are having Afghan, Bangladeshi, Burmese, and Sri Lankan artists, as well as mixed race performers and Caribbean folks who trace the lineage to the Subcontinent. It’s really important to me that “Dragistan” feels inclusive to all kinds of South Asian artists, and audiences from all walks of life.
Before I get to this month’s “Dragistan” installment, you have a few other amazing local events to discuss! On Sunday and Monday night, you’ll be Sasha Velour’s guest for her prominent multimedia “Nightgowns” show at LPR! How amazing is this, and do you know Sasha well?
This is so amazing. I’m very, very, very excited about “Nightgowns.” Sasha and I got to know each other when we both performed at the Austin International Drag Festival in 2015-ish. I was completely floored by her performance and fangirled so hard — this is before she was on Drag Race — and we followed each other’s paths on Instagram. Our paths hadn’t crossed for a minute, and then one day she appeared in the audience of a show I was doing at Barnard. And she was so kind and complimentary, and then she invited me to be part of her “Big Reveal” tour — once in Boston at the Wilbur and once in NYC at La Mama. She also blurbed my book Decolonize Drag. She’s been really, really good to me! Also to share the stage with Jimbo and Brooklyn legend MissMa’amShe? I mean, legendary! I feel so lucky!
And next Friday at C’mon Everybody, there’s a special pre-show for Dragistan called “What Is This Behaviour?” featuring shows by yourself a few other Dragistanis!
Yesssss! My drag daughter, the very, very brilliant RuAfza, has become a Brooklyn staple! She’s an amazing host and performer. She’s also the person behind all of Dragistan’s marketing. We piloted this model last year, and it’s really fun to have a pre-show and whet people’s appetite for Dragistan. A lot of people come in from out of town for Dragistan, both performers and attendees. So giving them a full slate of performances for the weekend matters — for them to mingle and make friends before the Saturday festivities.
Last year, RuAfza and her collaborator Trina wrote a trans take on the gay Bollywood film Dostana, called “Dostransna.” This year, they’re scripting a send-up of Indian reality shows, from Kaun Banega Crorepati? (the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?) to Indian Matchmaking which gave us the now-famous Sima Aunty. It’s going to be so silly and so fun. It also includes Lady Bushra, the comedienne extraordinaire who you know well. And Bombae, from Canada’s Drag Race–one of the few South Asians to ever appear on the global franchise.
Then comes Dragistan proper, Saturday at 3 Dollar Bill! I imagine it must have taken a lot of time and work to curate this.
Oh, it’s so much work, wrangling 20-ish artists for one show… but I enjoy it so much. Our Whatsapp group is sweetness, and reads all at once.
What should the kids expect from the show this time around?
You know, it’s really rare that you’ll get more than two or three South Asian artists in any one show–not just in NYC–anywhere. And so Dragistan truly is a treat. Bollywood, Kollywood, hip hop, vogue, gags, jokes, silliness, sexiness, and definitely some Zohran references. All the desi artists save their best acts for Dragistan… they bring the absolute most. There are two one-hour sets of performances, as well as amazing vendors all night! Last year there were knives, horses, bubbles, milk, inflatables, and reveal upon reveal upon reveal. We have artists coming in all the way from LA, the Bay, Chicago, Toronto, and even New Jersey. You’ll see costumes you never see on the drag stage and music from Ushka that you rarely get in the nightclub. Dragistan really feels like another world. That’s why I named it “Dragistan”– like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Khazakstan–it is indeed a place, a world unto itself. Audiences should expect to be transported!
Have fantastic shows! Lastly: what’s your favorite item in your drag bag, cosmetic or otherwise?
Oh it has to be the platinum blond wig styled by Misty Meaner that I wore to Dragistan last year. I mean I felt like a rich woman in that!
Thanks, Dr. Vagistan!
Check Thotyssey’s calendar for LaWhore Vagistan’s upcoming appearances, and follow her on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and LinkTree.
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