It’s not every day royalty comes to town, but in the case of Sasha Colby, Ohioans will have two chances to catch the international drag icon as she gears up for her second headlining tour this fall.
Yes, the G-O-D-D-E-S-S herself will be twirling through the Buckeye State on October 14 at the Southern Theatre in Columbus and October 15 at the House of Blues in Cleveland, as part of her 30-city Stripped II tour that finds Colby blessing the children with stops in states like Wisconsin, Missouri, and yes, Ohio, for the first time.
The Buckeye Flame spoke with former Miss Continental/winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 15/your favorite drag queen’s favorite drag queen Sasha Colby ahead of her upcoming tour stops in October.
To listen, click play directly below or read our (edited) conversation beneath the audio link.
You’ve had an incredible career both before and after winning Season 15 of RuPaul’s Drag Race and we know getting on the road is so much work. What inspired you to get back out there for this new tour?
I think when we finished the first Stripped tour last year, we all knew [my team, creative director and longtime friends] that we wanted to keep on telling stories. That’s always the crux of everything I do, especially being native Hawaiian. We’re just embedded with being storytellers, so we still have a lot more stories to share and to tell, and that’s why we’re back on the road.
You’ve always used your platform to uplift trans and queer stories. How mindful are you of each state you enter on this tour, and in what ways do you plan to continue sharing more of these stories?
Being a working drag queen before RuPaul’s Drag Race, I’ve [visited a lot of these cities before]. But, going from 23 cities last tour to now doing 30 cities, I really wanted to visit cities that I haven’t been able to ever perform in – and those that have an untapped queer community that maybe doesn’t get to experience a lot of RuPaul’s Drag Race alumni or performers. I also really wanted to share a sense of queer strength with a lot of these cities, which is really important to me and is always a message I try to spread when I’m out on the road.
Stripped II marks your second collaboration with Live Nation, following last year’s groundbreaking Stripped tour, which made history as the company’s first-ever headlining tour with a drag artist. Why did you want to partner with them again and how will this version of the tour stand apart from the original?
Seeing how impactful the first Stripped tour was, and seeing Live Nation really excited to continue this storytelling along with me makes me feel really great that my voice and queer voices are necessary and need to be heard, especially right now.
But it is a different show. … Stripped was an introduction to my life and how I got to RuPaul’s Drag Race, for people who didn’t know. And now they can have a point of reference to what makes me, me. You know, I didn’t just come out being a mother! There were a lot of life experiences and a lot of ups and downs that shaped me as a person, as a woman and as a drag performer. Sharing that with a greater audience allows me to create more connection.
But, with this iteration of Stripped, I really wanted to delve into not just on my own stories. A lot of stories that we’re telling on this tour are based on experiences that I’ve had or experienced alongside of my queer/trans community/tribe, but, I wanted it to be more universal. I’m just really exploring this idea of escapism, and in the times that we’re living in right now, in this crazy world that we live in, it can be very scary. Not just for queer people, but people in general.
This is my way of contributing to hopefully some positivity. To give the audience a bit of reprieve and a little relief for an hour and a half, to forget how awful things can get. Hopefully, they’ll leave the show with a little bit of hope and some excitement and a little bit of “oomph” to want to make this world a little better as much as they can, in the small ways that we can. We’re exploring a lot of high-femme, high-glam archetypes, different gods and goddesses, a lot of elemental factors and really bringing it back to where we are on this island planet Earth.
I watched your Home Stetch docuseries with Live Nation that detailed the first Stripped tour, and I really admired how intentional you were about honoring where you are from. Many queer Ohioans feel that same deep connection to home, even when it feels unsafe to exist here. Right now, our state legislature has proposed and is moving forward with House Bill 249, that, if passed, is legislation that would ban public drag performances, putting drag artists and trans performers at risk. What words of encouragement do you have for our community regarding this type of ban and what advice can you offer to local drag artists in Ohio?
It’s really unfortunate to be hearing all of these inhumane laws being passed and sliding under the radar because we’re so distracted with so many other things in the world. … We can’t really dismantle the whole system with our one little self. But what we can do is activate on a community level. Really pay attention to what we’re voting for who to represent us in our city and [state], because those are the most immediate forms of oppression that we are literally experiencing right now.
All I can say to queer people, to drag performers in Ohio is: Drag is a protest, yes, but we’re always going to be rebels. Queer people are always looked at as outlaws, as rebels, as misfits, and I say we lean into that and don’t ever stop expressing ourselves.
[HB 249] is a massive violation of freedom of speech. It’s a wildly oppressive law, and the only thing we can do is keep ourselves safe while not showing how much it is affecting us. Go unscathed and go to different cities and spread your drag there, but don’t ever stop doing drag and don’t ever stop creating. Don’t hide who you are because you’re afraid of what people are gonna say or do.
We really have to band together as a community and show our strength. That is what is really guiding me; this sense of community and creativity. If we create safe spaces – we create art that allows people to feel safe and make community – there’s really nothing we can’t do. We’ve been seeing protests in different countries showing that when you really push the population, [the people] are the ones with the voice. We are the ones that have a lot of power if we remember it.
Speaking of, what made you decide to bless us with two Ohio stops on this tour? Do you have any special memories, connections or ties to queens in Ohio from earlier in your career?
You know, I haven’t been in Ohio a lot as far as drag performances, but after I won RuPaul’s Drag Race, I was able to go to Columbus, and I just really enjoyed the drag community there. I really enjoyed the drag sisters there in general. And Zhané Dawlings Wiley was actually running for Miss Continental at the prelim when I was there, and I just saw this really young, full-of-life, beautiful trans performer sharing with me her dream of wanting to run in Miss Continental. And lo and behold, she ended up winning that year! And so it’s a testament to good drag in Ohio and in Columbus. I can’t wait to visit Cleveland and just knowing that there’s a big drag and a queer community that needs to be … blessed, I guess!
Now, our hometown hero Onya Nurve just recently brought the crown home to Ohio after winning Drag Race Season 17. Have you had the chance to work with Onya yet, and if not, do you hope to soon on a potential Drag Race All Winners Season 2?
I didn’t have the pleasure of knowing her prior to her season but watching her as a fan of drag was just beautiful. She never backed away from a challenge, and she just had this very disarming quality about her. Like you felt safe with her. I felt at ease whenever she was on screen or whenever she was on the mic. I knew that I was going to be taken care of, like how a good drag performer makes you feel. I actually got to meet her a few times just in passing, during a premiere, and then we saw each other in customs coming back from out of the country in LAX and exchanged pleasantries. But we just recently connected in Seattle. We were both doing Queer Pride Fest in Seattle and we got to have a really fun Sunday. It was myself, Onya, Willow Pill and Nymphia, and we all were just enjoying pride, enjoying sisterhood. To have all four of us consecutive winners all together was really, really fun. And well, you know, you never know with All Winners.
Your drag daughter Chappell Roan calls herself a proud “Midwest princess.” Not that you need any tips, but has she shared any insight on performing for Midwest crowds?
You know, she hasn’t been able to share with me her Midwest princess arsenal, but I actually used to be a Midwest girl for about seven years. I used to live in Chicago and would perform in Detroit, in Wisconsin (I was in Kenosha in the middle of winter), and I’ve done a few Ohio stops when I was doing the continental circuit. So I feel like I’m pretty well-versed in the Midwest crowd, and all I know is that they love good drag. They love pageants; they love glamour. That’s the thing that I associate [with the Midwest]. But also places like Chicago and more metropolitan areas are really pushing drag forward and showing that there’s a space for all kinds of drag. AFAB queens, Latinx queens, trans queens, drag kings. There’s so much space in the Midwest for that, and that’s what I really enjoy watching. Seeing all these cities really embrace and really push forward what drag means.
And finally, can you provide some advice for our queer youth in Ohio on how to live as authentically as you do?
As drag queens, we put on a lot of different faces and a lot of different artifices to keep us safe and in this world of make-believe, fantasy and dress-up. So I love it when people come up to me and they’re like, “Oh my gosh, when I grow up I want to be Sasha Colby!” because I’m like “Same, me too!” Because, I mean, this is all just a “yes, and” improv act. I’m gonna tell you right now, I have no idea what I’m doing. I wake up every morning with the same insecurities and the same doubts in myself that every human does. But what I do rely on is having a really strong sense of family, and my chosen family is super important to me. They really do keep me afloat and keep me grounded because they see the best in me even when I don’t see it in myself.
So when you have a good foundation of friends and chosen family, I say that you’re definitely in good hands. But, you know, just be unapologetically yourself. Be unapologetically queer. No one can really tease you about being something that you are proud of being. So just keep your head up and don’t ever let anybody put you down. 🔥
IGNITE ACTION
- Tickets for Stripped II tour are available at www.sashacolby.net/.
- Follow Sasha Colby on Instagram and TikTok.
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