With drag in political hot seat, new Modesto fundraiser celebrates art form, defies haters

With drag in the national spotlight and political hot seat, a new Modesto event is hoping to put the fun — and some education — back into the historical art form.

The What a Drag fundraiser will be held June 17 at downtown Modesto’s State Theatre. Kappa Epsilon, a local chapter of the international women’s professional educators society Delta Kappa Gamma, is presenting the show, which is being billed as a mashup of “Dancing With the Stars” and “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”

The event brings seven community leaders together with seven local drag experts — drag performers from Modesto and across the Central Valley — to be mentored and then all perform at the benefit showcase.

Event organizer and Kappa Epsilon Vice President Debbie Soro, a teacher with the Stanislaus County Office of Education, had the idea for a drag fundraiser years ago, before the pandemic. Then the local chapter of Kappa Epsilon launched in 2020.

The group now has about 30 members, with teachers from Modesto, Ceres, Turlock, Ripon and beyond. For their first in-person public event since forming, Chapter President Shannon Cato said they hope to raise money to support other local nonprofit groups and community organizations.

“When (we formed), we had three main goals for the chapter: one, connect with other local nonprofits; two, community service; and three, have fun,” Cato said. “So we’re excited for this event to (do) all three.”

Proceeds from drag event to benefit community groups

Proceeds from the show will benefit four groups: Drum Love (a nonprofit drum circle and music sharing group), The PLACE (a nonprofit LGBTQ+ youth group), HARRT (a youth group promoting healthy relationships from the Haven domestic violence shelter), and Women Techmakers Modesto (local chapter of a larger Google initiative on women in tech).

The show’s novice performers will range from local restaurant owners to educators, and the professionals will be entertainers who perform regularly in the region.

The drag novices:

• Jo Sisemore, owner of Pho Americana in Turlock and leader of The PLACE.

• Damon Robbins, owner of Camp 4 Wine Cafe in Modesto.

• Kaye Osborn, longtime educator and community performer, director, ASL instructor and interpreter.

• Claudia Linares, an educator, actress and community leader.

• Kate Trompetter, community leader who co-founded ModShop and Porchfest.

• David Rogers, musician and founder of Drum Love

• Karlha Davies, community leader and ambassador for Women Techmakers Modesto

The drag experts:

• Sasha Devaroe, Modesto-based drag queen and regular host at Splash Modesto

• Gigi Banks, Merced-based drag queen and regular host at The Brave Bull

• Julian Moonlightt, Modesto-based drag queen

• Azula Rose, Modesto-based drag queen

• Sir Vix, Sacramento-based drag king

• Kai the Drag King, Denair-based drag king

• Deja Moore, Fresno-based drag queen, Modesto native and emcee for the event

Soro, who has a background working in theater and with gay-straight alliance clubs during her more than 30 years with SCOE and Modesto City Schools, thought the event would be a fun way to engage people with an art form they may not realize has ancient roots.

Onstage female impersonation goes back to ancient times

While drag has been in the news a lot lately, people performing as or in the attire of another gender is nothing new. The practice dates back historically to at least ancient Greece, according to Harvard University’s Harvard Gazette. Shakespeare continued the tradition on stage in the late 16th and early 17th centuries with men dressing as women in his many plays because of women’s exclusion from the theater arts at the time.

In the more modern era, drag has been the main premise for everything from the 1959 Marilyn Monroe-Tony Curtis-Jack Lemmon classic “Some Like It Hot” to the 1980s sitcom that launched Tom Hanks’ career, “Bosom Buddies,” and the 1993 Robin Williams box-office hit “Mrs. Doubtfire.”

More recently, drag has made headlines in states like Tennessee, Florida and Montana where its governors have signed laws banning some or all kinds of drag performances. Other bills targeting drag have been introduced and/or are advancing in more than a dozen other states.

“I don’t think people know the history (of drag) at all. There’s a misconception that drag is always salacious, and that’s not true. And it gets tied in with so many other misconceptions about the LGBTQ+ community,” Soro said.

Drag and transgender issues often have been conflated in political debates as well. But not all drag performers are transgender, or vice versa. One is a performance style and another is a gender identity. But both, along with the larger LGBTQ+ community, have become targets for Republican-led state legislatures, with almost 500 bills aimed at restricting those groups introduced in 2023 alone, according to the ACLU.

For newbies to drag, like Osborn, a longtime and now retired teacher from Modesto, the opportunity to try something totally new and show support for the region’s LGBTQ+ community made her join the benefit.

“Drag queens and drag kings, they are people and they are not anything to be fearful of. So I am hoping that people will be intrigued enough in our community to see the beauty of people performing,” Osborn said.

Central Valley shows support for local LGBTQ+ community

The State Theatre event will include some information about the history of drag, and each performer (novices and experts) will have their own showcase. The evening also will feature a group number as its finale. The show and performances will be for a PG-13 audience, meaning teens and up are welcome to attend.

Politics aside, preparing to perform drag for the first time is a daunting task. All of the drag novices had to create their own drag characters — from their stage names and personas to outfits, makeup, wigs and the performance itself. And then they had to practice the performances and get used to wearing the full makeup and costumes.

Modesto drag expert David Soria, whose on-stage persona is Sasha Devaroe, is mentoring Sisemore for the show. The Oakdale native owns David Allen Salon in his hometown in addition to performing drag around the region for the last 15 years.

Soria’s husband, Larry Soria, is creating his and Sisemore’s outfits for the show. Some of his other work has been featured on the current all-star season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”

Performing as Sasha is an outlet and place to feel free, Soria said, and the current negative political climate surrounding drag is nothing new.

For the past three years, Modesto has been the often reluctant host to Straight Pride rallies, all which have been met with larger crowds of counterprotesters. Earlier this month, more than 100 people showed up to the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors meeting in support of the local LGBTQ+ community, in response to a rumored protest that never materialized over a planned Rainbow Story Time at the Salida branch of the Stanislaus County Library.

“(There’s) a radical belief that we are dangerous. But we are far from dangerous. The LGBTQIA+ community has always been the main target of these radical beliefs. If it’s not transgender people, it’s the gay agenda and now, oh, it’s the drag queens,” he said. “But we will never cower and hide, because that’s what they want us to do. ... And we have such a great support system in our Central Valley community.”

What a Drag is at 7:30 p.m. June 17 at the State Theatre, 1307 J St. in Modesto. Tickets are $50-$65 VIP, $35 back orchestra, $30 front balcony, $25 back balcony. For more information, call 209-527-4697 or visit thestate.org.