Image Credit: Drag kings (from left) Christopher Noel, Johnny Kat, Carlos Las Vegas, Pat Riarch, and Luster Dela Virgion, featured in the 2004 documentary Drag Kings on Tour. Photo courtesy of Clare Smyth (aka Flare); photographer unknown.
As part of the Collaboratory’s new four-year grant, we are launching the Drag Kings Oral History Project (DKOHP): the first oral history initiative focused on drag king histories in Canada and the United States.
This project will document 35 video interviews with performers, producers, and community members, co-interviewed in collaboration with longtime drag king producer, performer, and documentarian Clare Smyth (aka Flare), who has been active in the scene since 1995.
In addition to collecting personal histories, we will work with narrators to gather ephemera—including flyers, photographs, video, and possibly clothing—that will be preserved with The ArQuives for future artists, researchers, and community members. The project is planned to culminate in a celebratory international drag king cabaret, connecting the archival research to live performance and public engagement.
By committing to this specific project at this current moment, we aim to direct resources, visibility, and sustained energy toward an area of drag research that remains significantly underrepresented in both academic research and public cultural memory.
Drag kings, performers who use masculinity, gender play, and theatrical transformation to explore identity, embodiment, and social norms, have long contributed to LGBTQ histories. Yet their stories, networks, and techniques have often been eclipsed in the presence of more documented histories of drag queens and other drag traditions. We believe that these histories also deserve care, attention, and archival preservation as a form of drag artistry.
Through this project, we intend not only to record individual stories but also to map the regional scenes, mentorship lineages, and political and cultural contexts that have shaped drag king cultures across 20th and 21st century histories.
Interviews will highlight the broadness of drag king experiences, from those who helped establish scenes in major cities to emerging performers pushing boundaries of what drag can look like today. Ultimately, our goal is to create an accessible, community-informed archive that honours the depth and vibrancy of drag king history while offering future researchers, performers, and community members a rich foundation for ongoing exploration.
We look forward to sharing updates, discoveries, and community reflections as the project unfolds, and we invite performers, researchers, and fans of drag king culture to follow along as we continue this work together.
Ally Krueger-Kischak (any/all) is a Research Assistant on the Drag Kings Oral History Project. As an MA candidate in History and Sexual Diversity Studies, their research explores trans and queer rural histories, futurities, and working-class environmentalism in Southern Ontario.