A Dusted Decade with Dusty Ray Bottoms

I first got to know Dusty Ray Bottoms during Lousiville Pride last year. I was a backup dancer for Drag Daddy Production’s mainstage Wizard of Oz set, and Dusty played Elphaba in all her witchy glory. Soon we worked again for Snow White and the Seven Drag Queens, and upon seeing me at a Halloween party in casual drag, offered to help me with my makeup (she asserted it “wasn’t a read”). 

She came over one night and taught me to paint, birthing her second musical theatre daughter in town (the first being May O’Nays) and we’ve been friends ever since. I recently sat down with Dusty to ask her about her drag career, her favorite moments, what brought her to the craft, and what her hopes for the future are.

 

Richie: How long have you been doing drag?

Dusty: I started drag 2013, so just about 11 years.

 

Richie: What made you want to be a drag queen?

Dusty: I never thought I would be a drag queen. I went to New York to be on Broadway and get into film and TV. I wasn’t happy with how my acting career was going and I was tired of hearing you’re too fat, you’re too skinny, you’re too tall, you’re too gay, you’re not straight enough. I was always too much or not enough of something.

I would go to The Connection here in Louisville and I would see Hurricane Summers, Vanessa Demornay, Mocha Montreese, Cezanne and I would think “oh God they’re so stunning” and I just didn’t think that there was any room for me. Then I went to New York and saw Bob the Drag Queen and Thorgy Thor and was like oh I could have a voice in this and drag is more accessible than I think it is.

I was just like, if I can put a wig and heels on I get to say who I am. Once I did that’s when people started taking me seriously. So I went full steam ahead with it.

 

Richie: Do you have a favorite memory in drag?

Dusty: There’s so many. I mean obviously being a part of Drag Race and getting to tour the world and see drag all over and see how different places do it. I loved being over in the UK and enjoyed spending performing in Manchester and seeing the queens there.

Richie: How is drag different in the UK and Manchester than it is in America?

Dusty: I’d say in America the pageantry really holds strong. Pageantry is really huge in Kentucky and I don’t really care for it too much for myself, like  I don’t see myself doing pageants.

 

Richie: Have you ever done any?

Dusty: I haven’t done pageants but I’ve done competitions. That’s how I got my start. When you get your start in New York City you have to throw your wig on and get up in it and just bar hop and be seen and then sign up for all the amateur competitions. Once you win all of those and people are like “ohhhhhhh” then that’s when you start getting gigs. 

I was on a hot streak when I started drag and started the competitions because I was winning every competition — like I always got top two. I did “So You Think You Can Drag” which was the largest competition at that time in New York City at New World Stages hosted by Paige Turner. 

 

Richie: What was your favorite moment in any competitions you participated in?

Dusty: There was this 12-week-long competition on Fire Islands with 10 or 12 girls, which is where I first met Alexis Michelle. It was like a live drag race and you bought a ticket to come see it with the same cast every week and the audience voted on who went through. 

I ended up making it to the finale, where I did one of my legendary numbers called Peach Plum Pear to the Joanna Newsom song. I had all my backup dancers dressed in my looks from the previous weeks and there were leaves and glitter falling from the ceiling, and I had a big cornucopia in my hair since it was November. 

But I didn’t win that night… I got second place and Alexis Michelle won, but it was epic and it got me my gigs in New York City and I started working all the time.

 

Richie: Where has drag brought you you’d never think you would go?

Dusty: I never thought drag would bring me back into a church. I have a documentary coming out in a couple months about conversion therapy called “Conversion”. I got to go to a retreat with a bunch of dioceses and pastors and performed for them in drag. Then the next morning I did a workshop out of drag about the dangers of conversion therapy and I got everyone in the room to sign the petition at the time to help ban conversion therapy in Kentucky. 

I never thought the church would ask me to a “House of God” to talk about the dangers of conversion therapy to leaders of congregations. It was a really cool experience.

 

Richie: So you’re doing the Aftershow Show at Actors Theatre now, and you just got renewed for a second season. Tell me about that!

Dusty: The whole idea was to host a late-night show where we could talk with Louisville’s huge community theatre scene and have everyone present a song or scene from a show they’re currently working on. And if there is a Broadway show in town we harass them like crazy and get them to come in and sing with us. We have a youth spot all the way up to a traveling Broadway show spot. It’s a cool show of community and theatre.

I say I am a New York Queen because I am very musical theatre-inspired, and a lot of the material that I don’t get to do at the bars and clubs is musical theatre. I am also a bass-baritone and don’t have crazy high notes when I sing. And I love to sing. I don’t get to use my full voice when in the club — I use my parody voice, my drag queen voice which is a character voice. 

But when I am performing at the Aftershow Show I am able to just be with the piano and use my full voice like I did in my theatre days. So I started talking to May O’Nays and we came up with this idea and I am so glad we can hold space at Actors Theatre of Louisville. How huge is that?

 

Richie: What’s in the future for Dusty?

 

Dusty: I would love to keep performing. I’d love to be like Cher in “Burlesque,” running my own venue, having my cast of entertainers and performing there. I like to hold space for performers so they have a chance to hone their craft. My two drag daughters are May O’Nays and Valiana Doll, and I joke that I am going to leave a spawn of musical theatre daughters in Louisville. 

I think when you make room for yourself you make room for others — that’s always been something that has stuck in the back of my mind. I just hope that I can continue to make room for others. That’s why I started doing Dusty.