Thanks for joining us here for This is Utah.

I'm your host, Liz Adeola.

In this episode, we're introducing you to Utahns known for showcasing their bright ideas and talent with color and flair.

These giant papier maché puppets may not be able to talk, but the people behind them are full of wisdom and fascinating stories.

Hear how the group Oaxaxa en Utah is keeping indigenous Mexican culture alive in the Beehive State for generations to come.

And while looking to the future, we're also diving into the past to explore the history of drag in Utah.

Three queens help us navigate their journey of self-discovery and belonging, both on and off the stage.

This is Utah is made possible in part by the Willard L Eccles Foundation, the Lawrence T and Janet T Dee Foundation, and by the contributions to PBS Utah from viewers like you.

Thank you.

(Upbeat Music) - Utah has a history of drag that goes as far back as the 1800s.

Over the years, the art form has evolved, creating a culture of its own.

One that we explore from the perspective of queens who are a part of this chosen family.

♪ One, two, three, go, woo (upbeat dance music) ♪ I'm gonna blow you all away ♪ 'Cause I look so good when I walk this way ♪ ♪ I'm gonna bring that vibe today, yeah yeah ♪ ♪ Gonna strut my stuff on that runway ♪ ♪ I'm gonna blow you all away, ooh ooh ♪ ♪ 'Cause I look so good when I walk this way ♪ ♪ I wanna bring back that vibe today ♪ ♪ I'm gonna strut my stuff and on that runway ♪ (gentle music) Oh, wow.

Looks great in here.

My name is Sequoia.

I'm 28 years old and from Salt Lake City, Utah.

And I'm a full time drag queen, event producer, hostess, slayer extraordinaire.

Hi.

Hello.

How are you?

My name is Kay Bye.

I am 30 years old and I live in Salt Lake City, but I'm originally from Southern California and I am Jamaican and Creole.

- My name is Veronika DaVil, and I am a drag queen.

Who would have guessed?

I perform live all the time.

I sing, I lip sync, that's the majority of what I do.

And I am a socialite.

- I was born and raised in Utah and, growing up here in like a conservative area, I would have not ever imagined that this would be how I spend my adult working life.

But here we are being queer.

If you literally knew anything about the state of Utah and our history, you know that queer people have been here for a long time.

We've been one of the most LGBTQ capital cities and states in the country for over a decade.

We've been having drag shows since the settlement of the state, including Brigham Youngs own son, Madam Pattirini, Brigham Morris Young had two drag personas that we know of the most famous is Madame Pattirini, an Italian opera diva.

And then his other drag persona was Bridget McCarthy, a young Irish lass.

He would travel around the territory, and this was all after his father died in 1877, and he would come out fully dressed in passing drag as a woman, and sing a beautiful Italian opera because he had a gorgeous falsetto voice.

And then at the end of the song, he would doff his wig and, you know, wow the audience like, “Oh my gosh, this is a man.

” It was a part of vaudeville theater to do cross-dressing and drag.

Back in the ye olde days, when this place was settled and we had the Pantages and all of these old theaters, it was a thing.

It was a really common, respected, fun artform - To just add some sparkle to the skin.

(people cheering) When I'm on stage, that is my moment.

You know?

It's like nothing else matters.

Its just show time.

You know?

- [Announcer] Make some noise!

(audience cheering) (upbeat dance music) - There's, there's not really a way to describe the feeling of looking in the mirror and seeing yourself, but seeing someone else completely different.

It is really amazing.

When you're getting into drag and you're transforming from out of drag to in drag, it is not a quick process.

It takes hours.

And this is a common thing people say, you don't feel like a drag queen until you have a lash on and a wig.

(upbeat music) There is a lot besides the wig and the makeup.

I'm currently wearing six pairs of tights, including fishnets.

I'm wearing four inch pads to make my hips look bigger.

- The makeup itself is like.

It's like 2.5 hours of makeup, probably a half an hour of skincare and shaving the face and all of that This is what a hip pad looks like.

This is so I can have a little body shape and have those curves.

As weird as this sounds, by dressing up as someone else, I found myself and been more comfortable as myself.

The beautiful thing about drag is that everyone is so different.

We all do the same thing, but we do it so differently.

The drag scene in Utah is full of a lot of diversity.

there are drag kings, there are drag queens, there are drag things or in betweens, as we might call them.

There are so many performers of different genders presenting as other genders or whatever.

There's so many, Venn diagrams that meet in the middle.

- Drag brings happiness and joy into my life.

Really, what drag has taught me is that while the drag is fun and playing dress up, there's also a bigger meaning to it.

And it brings me so much happiness and joy.

Because honestly, looking back on my life, I wouldn't think to myself, oh, I'm going to be an inspiration to somebody.

Like sharing that happiness is what brings me happiness.

- Inspiring someone else to come out and now they're doing drag or whatever.

I see all of the tangible difference it makes to be bold and brave enough to exist in public, in drag, in a red state.

Safety is always almost an illusion.

and we tend to feel our most comfortable when we're with each other, because we're the people who understand that kind of fear the most.

- I worry about my safety more when I'm in drag, and I can't imagine what women feel like every single day.

Like it is a real fear that most performers have walking around by themselves, especially at night.

So many people are working from Provo to Ogden to make sure that queer Utahns know they have a safe space to exist.

Mik Jager, Hoe She Minh, Lady Facade, Nancy Raygun, Mari Cona, Eva Chanel Stephens, Ivy Dior Stephens, Zoe Zigman Stephens, Gia Bianca Stephens just moved, but she did so much to create this scene.

The Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire.

There are so many people who are like hosting, producing shows.

There are so many performers, and as long as I'm here and as long as anyone who is like me is here, which there are plenty of us, trust me, there will be safe spaces for queer people in Utah.

- Something that I didn't expect when I started performing was the community that I would find.

The drag queens, drag kings, the drag theys.

They are so amazing and I have made some friends that I am going to hold on for dear life.

Oh hello, my name is Veronika Davil (audience cheering) Catchphrase in the works, but right now, we're going for the Thunder Thighs of SLC, and that's the best.

(audience cheering) - That's the best, yeah.

Oh my God, Veronica, shut up already!

We've got a show!

My mom, she comes to shows all the time.

My mom is one of my biggest fans.

Love her so much.

(audience cheering) So both of my parents actually coming to tonight's show.

my parents are no longer together, but they are very kind to each other and very open.

And my dad is actually in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and he still comes to my shows and supports me, which is not very common.

And, I love my dad so much just because we have such different belief systems now.

But he will tell me at the end of every single phone conversation, “I'm proud of you and I'm glad you're mine.

” And I know that's not an experience that a lot of queer people have, to be told their parents are proud of them.

- The world is so unkind to queer people that as a community, we have no choice but to do a lot of mutual aid and fundraising and helping each other with things, because, I mean, that's, that's who we are, at the core of it all is a chosen family.

(audience cheering) - Nobody understands what a drag queen is going through except for another drag queen.

(gentle music) I think it's very fortunate that the drag community here in Utah is unified in a way that we just all want each other to succeed.

- Drag is so many things.

First and foremost, it is a form of entertainment, but it's a way to build community.

It's a form of political expression.

It can be a form of societal criticism.

It's humorous.

It can be really raunchy and crass.

It can be very formal and kid friendly.

It's a way for both audience and actor entertainer to examine and really rethink the masks that we are all asked to put on or that we put on ourselves.

- Yeah!

(exciting music) - She is all that and a bag of chips.

Yes, ma'am.

- And it's a way to then also look at what do these masks that we wear reveal about ourselves and our own authenticity.

I mean, drag to me is incredibly powerful.

(compelling music) - There's something about being in drag that really makes you get things done.

Like it's a lot easier to ask for help at a show, or to tell someone what I need, or to kind of have to lay down the law or whatever when I'm dressed like this.

Because isn't it so much easier to hear something difficult from someone who looks gorgeous?

You know what I mean?

Utah is a special place that's incredibly unique, but also can make people from all over the world feel like they're at home.

One example of that comes from the founder of Oaxaca en Utah, a nonprofit organization whose leader hails from Mexico but found a sense of place and belonging here in the hills of Davis County.

(lively music) - The colors, we are full of colors.

The dancers from Oaxaca.

We are full of happiness and joy and its gastronomy, its customs, its traditions, its dialects, its textiles, music, everything together.

Oaxaca is very rich with people because we have so many dialects, different tribes, and it's very unique and it's beautiful.

(lively music) My name is Norma Carver.

I am the founder of Oaxaca here in Utah.

When La Guelaguetza Festival came to Kaysville, a lot people came to see it.

All the neighbors came and they were wondering, "What's going on?"

you know, what is this mean?

And then we explained them, you know, Oaxaca, it's a beautiful state from Mexico.

And we brought it here to Utah.

Oaxaca, it's located on the southwest of Mexico, close to Guatemala, so we are very south.

I was born in Guadalupe Nuevo Centro.

This is a beautiful town that my dad founded when he was really young.

I was very independent in Oaxaca, Mexico.

I was helping my family with and, you know, all the needs there.

But then I moved here to the United States.

After a while, I married my husband, Benjamin, who is from Kaysville, Utah, and I moved here Seeing all those beautiful mountains in the valley, that's how Oaxaca looks like.

And I'm like, wow, you know, I'm missing so much my family, you know, my town.

But now I found it again here in Utah.

- Don't worry, my friend.

This is chocolate.

The first thing I wanted to do is find my people from Oaxaca.

At that time I didn't know Flor, Flor Torres.

She's the owner of La Oaxaquena, That is a Mexican restaurant here in the valley.

And, she she doesn't know this, but, you know, I came to the restaurant and I had some tamales.

I had some horchata, a rice water from Oaxaca, beautiful and amazing drink.

And I'm like, okay, I finally was able to meet, you know, a place where I can go and I can eat and I can feel the beautiful things that Oaxaca has, especially the gastronomy.

If you're wanting some Oaxaqueno food, you can find this wonderful food at La Guelaguetza, which is a wonderful festivity from Oaxaca that Oaxaca en Utah puts in this state.

So we will have the (speaking in foreign language) all this wonderful food from Oaxaca, and we want everybody to come to the festival.

(lively music) La Guelaguetza is a beautiful festival that happens once a year in Oaxaca.

And it's when the eight regions of Oaxaca come together and they share their music, their dancing, they gastronomy, textile style, dialects and everything that they have in each region.

And Oaxaca en Utah is trying to replicate that.

Many people that don't know about Oaxaca and how diverse it is, people mistreat us because we're short.

We're dark and people get mistreated because they don't speak fluent Spanish.

But it feels great when somebody says, "I'm so proud to be, you know, a member of Oaxaca en Utah.

I'm so proud to dress one of the textiles from there.

I'm so proud to speak another dialect that is not Spanish or English.

It feels good to paint the alebrijes.

It's good to make a tlayuda.

It's good to go to a presentation and dance one of the regions."

One of the visions of Oaxaca is that here in the state of Utah, we wanted to tell everybody to come and try, you know, get to know Oaxaca, get to know the organization.

We love the community friendship because this is what the organization is all about, is uniting the community.

In order for us to prepare La Guelaguetza, we have to prepare the whole year.

It takes lots and lots of months to prepare the props that we're going to use.

It takes a lot of time for the people who are going to participate, for the costumes, and it takes a lot of work and is thanks to their volunteers that they come and they help us.

(lively music) In order for us to prepare the Monos de Calenda the puppets, giant puppets, we take a lot of hours of work in.

It's thanks to Ramon Ramos, who is our teacher in Oaxaca en Utah, that we are able to prepare those.

This year we have 10 big puppets to represent each region of Oaxaca and Ramon, it's just wonderful thanks to the management that he has and all the skills he has.

He does the design, but then the wig work and the clothing, the make up, We do a lot of details as a community and everybody comes.

Children come to work for the Monos de Calenda Older people, you know, everybody, everybody work.

And that's what Oaxaca en Utah is.

It's working together as a team.

- We doing different stuff all day.

In Oaxaca en Utah everybody have the opportunity to work with or working with art.

What is Oaxaca?

Oaxaca is happiness.

Oaxaca means a party.

Oaxaca is express love with the culture, with the tradition, with the food, with everything.

So the Monos de Calenda invite all the persons to come to their party or to come to enjoy.

What is the happiness in living the cultures?

Really fun because it's something you can express.

Like when you are in a puppet, it is like, okay, nobody want to see you.

You can go in wherever you want, you can dance whatever you want.

- The men there get so happy to get into there because they, you know, they get to wear a big skirt, a big shirt, and they are able to dance, you know, and it's like, it's a secret identity that, you know, that they have.

They don't try to show who is Oaxaca in the beginning, but in one point I ask you to my grandma, "Grandma, where are you from?"

And she tell me from Oaxaca, They show me a lot of stuff.

I really don't know.

When I have 12 years old.

I really like the colorful stuff.

I really like that music.

When I come in here, my grandma pass away and for me was something really hard.

And the only way to feel the connection with my grandmother or with Oaxaca is Oaxaca en Utah.

Sorry.

(lively music) - I'm grateful that Oaxaca en Utah has given me a huge family because we are growing so much and it feels good to have, you know, people from different regions in Oaxaca and be able to, you know, to get to know them, to love them and to care for them.

- We want Oaxaca en Utah have the power to connect to the real Oaxaca and try to bring Oaxaca here because we no have the opportunity to be there.

(lively music) - The first things, when I go to a to a fiesta, I go to a place I say, "I am from Oaxaca.

My name is Norma and I am from Oaxaca."

I am from what I want everybody to be proud of who they are.

(lively music) We want everybody to know how rich is Oaxaca.

How educated we are, how smart we are, how beautiful we are, And, that we have so much to give to the community.

(lively music) - Wow, so many vibrant colors and characters who warm my heart simply by sharing their story.

And we want to hear your journey too.

Chime in on This is Utah's Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube pages, Hit the Like button, share a comment, and don't forget to subscribe!

Until next time, I'm Liz Adeola and This is Utah.

This is Utah is made possible in part by the Willard L. Eccles Foundation.

The Lawrence T. and Janet T. Dee Foundation.

And by the contributions to PBS Utah from viewers like you.

Thank you!