“The cool thing about Ohio is that there is literally a place for everyone.”
I was introduced toRobyn DaCultyreat anUntitled Queenshow atC’mon Everybodyin late January , and it was one of the most unique drag shows I ’d seen in a while . Afterwards I track down this self - discover “ drag creature ” and picture confab about her drag origin story , the state of pull in her aboriginal Ohio , and the dual identities that make up her persona .
Thrillist : I desire to ask you about how Robyn DaCultyre come about and your point of view behind your carrying into action .
Robyn DaCultyre : I ’ve been traveling around the country from a young age in ministry and Christian subject . I displace to Chicago justly after eminent school day . Four years later , moved back to Columbus and decided I did n’t really want to do church anymore ; that was n’t where my heart was .
Robyn DaCultyre|Photo by Kayode Omoyosi
I had a really low point in my life and had a suicide endeavour and then really found drag and start doing pull as a coping mechanism and way to let off steam . I started in July of 2019 , and it was really a muckle of punk and metal medicine . I created this drag animate being of sorts and they were really out of this world and celestial and all of those fun foreign type full term .
And then we run into a global pandemic and I had a lot of time to cipher out who I wanted to be . Digitally I was still doing a lot of puff creature - esque numbers and all of that , but I had this moment where we ’re on the front lines getting hit with pepper spray and golosh bullets and pepper spray — all of those lovely thing . And I articulate , I have this chopine and I need to start showcasing what ’s take place .
Untitled [ Queen ] stepped in at the right time and message me and said , “ I ’m doing this show for Independence Day calledUntitled in Americawith 52 dissimilar performers and I need you to be a part of it . ” It was at that moment I was able to take the footage I had been recording on the front lines and incorporate it into digital subject matter . I did a song call Black Like Me by Mickey Guyton that talks about white lookout fences , but if you want to see how America is , then you should try on being Black like me . The imagery of what ’s literally happening in Columbus in that digital performance really spearhead me into concenter on people who look like me .
Nina Simone is one of my with child inspirations , and one of her inverted comma that vibrate with me is that it ’s the obligation of the artist to come across with the sentence . My artistic production is politically charged . I care to toy with , but there will definitely be a time when you fare to a show expecting to have your drinkable and be shudder and that might not be the case .
How did the name Robyn DaCultyre come about ?
I was smoke withUrsula Major , who was on time of year one ofDragula , and the first time I introduced myself to her I was Robyn Banks , which is my retarding force name originally . She articulate , “ Well , do you just not want to be original at all ? ” [ Laughs ] And I sat with that for a duet of months , and I got really stoned one day and was listening to Janelle Monae , and she talks about doing it for the culture , and I said “ I do it for the civilization , too ! ” And the rest is story .
Robyn DaCultyre|Photos by Chay Creates LLC (left) and Bridget Caswell (right)
And you commence a serial publication calledMelanated .
We started Melanated last February . I separate the idea to my show theater director that there were no display specifically draw by Black people that only featured Black entertainers . I wanted to do this show for a nighttime and she said , Why do n’t we do it once a week for the whole month ? The first show happens , and it ’s a sold out bunch , and [ my film director ] comes back and says we should do this every month . So I sucked it up and here we are a year later .
Melanated is the only in full opprobrious show in all of the state . It ’s a horrible selling instrument and not something I want to promote , but it is just a fact . It amazes me that we are the 13th largest urban center in America and there ’s nothing here that ’s fully focused on Black entertainers . The name also come from Janelle Monae ; she say she ’s highly melanated and I say , that works .
You concern to yourself as a retarding force fauna , as play off to drag on queen or Martin Luther King …
This is actually the first time I ’m making this world . I am in this property where I want to discriminate the alternative tool from who this melanated goddess or whatever is . DaCultyre is definitely the person who die hard Melanated and then Robyn is this drag puppet that is out of this humans and really loves punk and alternate music . And both intertwine to make Robyn DaCultyre .
You also do pageantry . Tell me about that .
In 2020 I was appointed byNina West , who is from Columbus , as the representative from Ohio for National Entertainer of the Year in Louisville , Kentucky . I placed ninth out of 13 contestants and I really fell in love life with the system and fell in love with the pageantry and loved the approximation of reigning and being dissimilar . I want to show that we as substitute performing artist , as bearded performers , you’re able to make out into these system and sway things up .
Is there a unambiguously “ Ohio ” style of drag ?
No , and I think that ’s one of the things that make it so astonishing is that everyone has their own unequalled style , and it ’s all pretty much accepted . I embark on as a performer and a drag tool and there was blank that was afford to me and I transition to more glamour and pageant and that ’s afforded to me as well . I ’ve been a whiskered entertainer for a yr now . The nerveless matter about Ohio is that there is literally a place for everyone .
I think I have everything I take . Is there anything else I did n’t enquire you about that you want to bestow up , or …
I do n’t think so . Are there any generic questions you have n’t expect ?
Generic questions … I think I ask all of them already [ express joy ] . I like to call for what you ’d be doing if you were n’t doing drag ?
It ’s a corking question . I have a day job that is very demanding so I demand drag on to get away . I ’m also very originative and aesthetic . I used to do web conception and all these other things to rive into my creativity . Drag is the longest thing I ’ve stay put with in all parts of my life , so I do n’t call back it ’s extend anywhere anytime soon .
