Picture it, West Hollywood, the tension is high in the air as this year’s Project Drag contestants battled each other, one act after the other. Los Angeles Blade was on hand as guest judge for this particular evening, with TV show characters being the theme of the night. Project Drag, created in 2013 by nightlife personality Tony Moore, is THE drag competition when it comes to representing local drag queens. Even though this evening’s edition marked just a few weeks into the competition, it was clear these queens wanted to win…badly.
LØRELEI, no stranger to a spotlight, took the stage dressed as Smurfette and launched into a frenzy of dancing (backup dancers in tow). Halfway through her act with a dizzying array of jumps and jazz hands, she leapt into the air and smack dab into the DJ! The audience gasped as she teetered on the edge of the DJ’s station. Would she crash into the DJ, taking the whole setup with her? Or would she fall back and crash into the audience? Gravity had its way, and she crashed into the floor in a blurred mess of yellow hair and red high heels. Was this the end of LØRELEI’s time with Project Drag? Like the showperson she is, she turned the moment into a bit, not knowing that weeks later, she would take home the crown.
Even though LØRELEI wanted the win so much, she came to the competition a consummate performer, mixing her theatre world with her drag skills to put on truly unique acts. She is a true drag queen in the sense that she’s not just about looks. She can command an audience, she is a successful podcast co-host of SHABLAM!, and she co-founded and runs Dionysia, a non-profit organization dedicated to developing long-form theatrical works by drag artists. Oh, and did we mention she’s been touring around the nation with the Taylor Swift Eras Tour: Drag Brunch? When did she even have time to do the competition? It’s what she does, she makes the show go on.
We chatted with this fabulous queen after her win, in between cities on her current tour.
What was your first exposure to drag?
I was always a theatre kid since I was 10, and I was introduced to drag in small doses through Musical Theater. A Chorus Line, La Cage Aux Folles, Kinky Boots – seeing queer representation in this particular medium was formative to my understanding of drag, and knowing that one day I wanted to be a famous drag queen. Through high school, I would dress in drag for Halloween, and by the time I got to college, I started to hit club nights that were 18+ in drag.
What was your first professional drag gig? How did it go?
I remember my first “big-time” professional gig was at Queen Kong with the Boulet Brothers back when they produced parties at Precinct in 2018. I competed in their star-search competition, placing 2nd in the Top 3 alongside Kornbread Jete (RPDR S14) and Charles Galin (King of Drag S1). After that, I was added to the rotation as a performer at Queen Kong until they finished producing the party in 2019. My very first booking with them after the competition was a “Satanic Lady Gaga” night, and I performed “Applause” as Charles Manson. I was so nervous, and I was corseting so tight, I think at that age I was corseting down to 21 inches – so I hate to say this, but I threw up onstage during my performance. The audience was shocked – and I was shocked too. But I kept performing and made it work. Around this time, Dragula was picking up speed, and we had seen the likes of Vander Von Odd vomiting on screen as part of the performance, so many thought that what I did was incredibly punk, and I just kinda ran with it. It’s one of my cringiest memories in drag – but I remember after my number, the Boulets came to check in with me and make sure I was okay, and they told me that I did a great job and that they loved the number. The show must go on, I guess!
What sets your drag apart from other Queens?
What sets me apart the most from other queens are my inventive performance ideas. I am a conceptual performer with a sense of humor that I express through writing and staging, and many of my performances feel like short-form theatre shows. My palette of references steers away from conventional drag pageantry, and gears more toward the avant-garde, the meta-theatrical and the bizarre. Every performance has a new character, so you never know what to expect from a Lorelei show – but I guarantee that no matter what you will be entertained.
You are the winner of Project Drag! What did going through this competition teach you most about yourself?
That no matter how cunty you think you are, there is always room to grow. It taught me not to be afraid to try things that might make you uncomfortable. Being in a competition like Project Drag requires you to be vulnerable and receptive to critique, it requires you to risk failing despite your best efforts. There were plenty of times that I fumbled in the competition – literally. One week I fell clear off of the DJ stand (shoutout to my Smurfette performance). But there were also many successes – I won two challenges before hitting the finale, and those were celebratory moments that demonstrated the best of what my drag could be. You have to take the good with the bad, and if you don’t ever swing big, you’ll never get that pay off to celebrate your drag. You have always be a student of the world, and look for ways to constantly improve your craft.
What were your biggest challenges in making it through the competition?
I would say the schedule of the competition was probably the hardest part – this was an 11-week competition, with challenges that are comparable to Drag Race, including group challenges and design challenges. Our weeks were spent crafting, rehearsing, spending, working incredibly hard to stay on top of our game every week, while still balancing life obligations like work or our health.
Personally, I was competing in Project Drag while also traveling out of town every weekend as a cast member in the Taylor Swift Eras Tour: Drag Version brunch show. During the competition, I traveled to cities like Albuquerque, El Paso, Oklahoma City, Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, and Austin. Every week, I’d fly out after work on Friday, perform brunch shows on Saturday and Sunday, fly back home Monday morning, and then compete in Project Drag that same night. From Tuesday to Thursday, I balanced my day job, other drag gigs, and prepped as much as I could for the next week’s challenge—before hopping on another flight Friday and doing it all over again.
It was incredibly challenging, but that’s how badly I wanted to win. Looking back, I’m truly grateful for the experience. With everything I managed to juggle, I can honestly say this was the most drag I’ve ever done in my life—and I love living a life that’s so deeply connected to my craft.
What do you plan to do with your title?
I will probably leverage this title as rage bait against my haters for the rest of my life! And also — of course, I want to use this title to platform my own personal creative journey of making drag performance pieces, but also I would like to use it to platform other artists I work with. There are so many drag artists who helped me win Project Drag because they believed in my vision, and I want to give back to those friends and the community at large. With this title, I hope I can be a beacon for drag artists who may feel limited by the artistic scope of doing drag in a club or bar and are looking to bring their artistry to new arenas, like stages, art galleries, and alternative performance spaces. I hope to create new avenues for drag artists to incubate their ideas and develop performances that push the limits of our industry.
Theater and drag are two major components of your life. How do your drag and theatre aesthetics complement each other?
I’ve always considered myself a theatre artist, using drag as my medium. Drag has an important role in theatre traditions all around the world, and I think it is the chosen responsibility of a handful of drag artists to continue that performance tradition and innovate upon it as time passes. I’m inspired by artists like Taylor Mac, John Cameron Mitchell, Hibiscus – who use drag and playwriting as a means of distilling their ideas and insights about the world. In the future, I hope I can produce more theatrical work that uses drag as a means of storytelling, and infiltrate the theatre industry with new works that feature drag artists onstage.
What is your biggest mission in running Dionysia?
My biggest mission in running Dionysia is to create a collective of theatre artists and drag artists who help each other in producing more long-form theatrical works that feature queer voices. I would say most theatre queens are known for impersonating or re-creating famous theatre productions onstage, like doing Liza Minnelli or Wicked-themed drag brunch. However, my goal with Dionysia was to make an incubator for drag artists to bring in their own original material and collaborate with others to bring it to life onstage. It’s all about innovating new works to then perform onstage, submit to festivals or grants, and hopefully grow the skill set of each individual artist.
How can the queer community best support the drag community?
The queer community can help support the drag community by joining us at our events, and thus helping us promote our work of creating safe spaces at a time when being queer in public is becoming politicized once again. As drag artists, we do more than just perform onstage: we offer our image and our visibility as a means of indicating to others that we are creating a space that is sacred for our community. As drag artists, we share stories, we contribute to local culture, we help to preserve community and tradition, and we always appreciate audiences who at minimum come to enjoy the show because it motivates us to continue our work. Tipping helps too!
How has being a drag queen changed your life the most?
Being a drag queen has changed my life for the better because it has galvanized my life behind the guiding principle of liberation for obviously queer people, but really of all marginalized people. To me, being able to do drag feels like a proclamation of my freedom – my ability to be whoever I want, when I want. Everyone should have that freedom. I think of that age-old adage “no one is free until we are all free” – and it makes me realize that while I have the liberty to express myself, there are people around the world who don’t have that privilege. I think drag queens in general are especially attuned to the pursuit of justice, and that has helped to guide my life in the direction of being in service to others. Freedom for me means freedom for all – from the USA, to Palestine, no matter who you are or where you’re from.
We also love your podcast SHABLAM! What do you love most about the podcast?
Of course I love the opportunity on SHABLAM! to discuss my thoughts and opinions, but the best part is being able to do it with my co-host Annie Biotixx. Annie and I have been friends and collaborators for a long while now, and she always keeps me motivated to produce my best work. She competed in Project Drag 5, and although she didn’t make it as the winner of her season, she was a rock for me in my season of Project Drag, providing her support and guidance through all the challenges. She was even featured in my winning finale number! She’s an incredible host and drag queen here in Los Angeles, and a high-value theatre aesthete. Collaborating with her is effortless, and makes my job of showing up each week to record very easy.
What do you want listeners to walk away with after listening to SHABLAM?
At the end of the day, I want listeners to walk away feeling like they belong to an online community that supports them. Ultimately it’s a comedy podcast, so I always want people to laugh – but humor is such a great tool for building community. I feel through recording SHABLAM!, we are sharing our jokes, our vocal stims, whatever makes us laugh to build a shared language that we can use to identify who is part of this online community, and who share our values and principles. We create a space for people to find each other!
What are your biggest challenges in being a drag queen in SoCal?
Compared to other cities, I think the SoCal drag scene, particularly in Los Angeles, is uniquely suited to support many different types of drag, thanks to our sprawling geography. From West Hollywood to Downtown, from the Valley to the Inland Empire, there are countless pockets around LA that each celebrate a distinct style of drag. This diversity makes it possible for many people to pursue and succeed in drag.
However, that same strength also presents a challenge: everyone is looking to succeed, and the scene is highly competitive. The geography that fosters diversity also makes it difficult to make a name for yourself across all these different drag communities. Successful drag queens in SoCal know how to navigate between these various pockets. They show up professional, prepared, and with a strong point of view that sustains them over time. It takes patience, tenacity, and a commitment to continually growing your skill set and network.
You are touring with Taylor Swift Eras Tour: Drag Brunch Version! What Taylor Swift song most speaks to you presently and why?
Yes! I’ve been listening to a lot of her music for our show, and I would say that the song that speaks to me the most… on tough days, it’s “Anti-Hero” from Midnights. I think any artist can relate to the feeling of self-sabotage, and as I get older, I realize I have a lot of learning to do. But on good days – I believe in “Karma” from Midnights. I feel at ease in knowing that the universe is working for me, and what is meant for me will not pass me by. Winning Project Drag has amplified both of those feelings, and I know in my heart that this title was meant for me.
Do you get up to any shenanigans (wink, wink) while on tour?
My PARENTS are going to want to read this article, you FREAK! Lol, I’m kidding – yes, of course, there are plenty of shenanigans, and if you are interested, might I direct you to Season 2 of my podcast SHABLAM! Where, in addition to dissecting Project Drag week-to-week in real time, we discuss my escapades while on the road. Last thing I’ll say is get tested, get on PrEP, remember that undetectable = untransmittable! Mwah!
What kind of legacy do you want to create with your theatre and drag?
I’d like to leave a legacy as a thought leader in the school of theatre and drag. I want to hybridize performance theory, queer history and drag performance to create innovative works that push the limits of how drag can be used in storytelling. I want to be added to the canon of drag artists who are lauded by the global theatre community, and leave in my legacy a collection of dramaturgically astute, advanced works of drag theatre.
What is your message to the community this Pride season?
Where do I even begin with all the chaos that has ensued in Los Angeles since the election of our current administration? ICE raids terrorizing our communities and kidnapping our neighbors is a crime beyond comprehension. It has rightfully left many of us feeling scared and hopeless, but I encourage the community to remain firm in our pursuit of justice and to fight back against Facism! Donate, Protest, Educate, Engage – do whatever you can to make it clear to any authoritative power that Los Angeles will not be fucked with! Especially the queer community! Today, we stand on the shoulders of queer ancestors who have endured similar treatment of threats and intimidation, and we have persevered. We will always be here! And no human is illegal on stolen land!
Follow LØRELEI on IG.
