A new city-funded position aims to elevate drag performers at a time when anti-LGBTQ legislation is sweeping the US.
California’s San Francisco, USA – All eyes were on her as she walked up to the wooden podium, a nimbus of golden locks curled into a bouffant.
However, D’Arcy Drollinger, 54, remained unfazed. Drollinger was the honoree during the opening of San Francisco’s Pride Month celebrations, which mark the beginning of the city’s yearly LGBTQ+ community celebration.
Her position? is to represent drag, one of the city’s most well-known art genres.
As legislation aimed at the LGBTQ+ community grows across the country, San Francisco has made history by appointing an official drag laureate to serve as the city’s representative.
Drollinger will serve as a spokeswoman for LGBTQ+ rights for 18 months, leading initiatives in the community and taking on the role of a larger-than-life blonde bombshell.
Drollinger addressed the throng gathered on the mayor’s balcony in city hall, saying, “It is a fantastic pleasure to be standing here with my fellow community leaders and kicking off Pride 2023 as the first drag laureate of San Francisco—and the globe.
Dancing from birth
“I started dancing as soon as I was born. I was a performer,” Drollinger admitted. When speaking in character, Drollinger employs “she” pronouns; otherwise, he uses “he”.
Drollinger, who was raised in San Francisco with parents an archaeologist and an artist, recalled viewing Mary Poppins as a young child and being inspired by the film’s strict but eccentric protagonist.
I was drawn to these women characters, Drollinger admitted. “I desired to dress in Mary Poppins garb. My parents went to the thrift shop and, being free spirits, bought me a small dress, an umbrella, and a pair of high shoes. I then paced the house dressed as Mary Poppins.
But Drollinger’s parents were soon called away from San Francisco by work. Before moving to the little gold-rush town of Nevada City, California, the family spent some of Drollinger’s formative years in Samoa.
Drollinger remembered junior high school as being “tough” there. “I wasn’t very well-liked. I received frequent teasing. Before I really considered it, I was informed by others that I was gay.
However, the theatre provided a haven. And by high school, despite the fact that there was no theatre department to rely on, Drollinger was producing his own plays. Drollinger combed secondhand shops for outfits, and stretched canvas was hand-painted with the scenery.
“I had no typing skills. I had the scripts Xeroxed after writing them all by hand, Drollinger said.
As drag laureate, D’Arcy Drollinger has spoken at the city arts commission and the Pink Triangle Ceremony, which honors
Since then, he has taken over as the club’s sole proprietor. Using innovative ideas like a drag telethon and “Meals on Heels,” a meal delivery service that kept performers employed even as stages were closed, he has led the club through the coronavirus pandemic.
those who have faced homophobia and other forms of hate [Allison Griner/Al Jazeera]
Drag as microscope
Nevertheless, Drollinger found that theatre was his true calling: “Once you try and take on something that seems impossible and you do it, it gets very addictive,” he said.
Drollinger continued to pursue his love of performing as an adult. He worked as an assistant on the original Broadway shows of The Producers and Hairspray in addition to touring with a post-punk rock band.
Drollinger, however, found a place for both his playwriting and performing talents in the world of drag and in San Francisco. After returning in 2010, he and two business partners transformed an old bathhouse into their very own club space, Oasis, by the end of 2015.
Since then, he has taken over as the club’s sole proprietor. Using innovative ideas like a drag telethon and “Meals on Heels,” a meal delivery service that kept performers employed even as stages were closed, he has led the club through the coronavirus pandemic.
Someone recently inquired, “Why is drag important? ” said Drollinger. “And others are asking: Why is theatre significant? Why is film so significant? Why does it dance?
All of those modes of expression serve as mirrors for reality, but Drollinger discovered a fresh viewpoint to offer audiences through the exaggerated drag performing style.
Drag smashes things up in comedic and tragic ways at different moments. You use a microscope to examine objects in
