Michelle Livigne
Photo by Chris Vers
interviewed by BT Hayes
What was the inspiration for “Driveway Drag Show?” Was it purely in response to the pandemic and social distance requirements or did you have some iteration of this idea before?
Michelle Livigne: So, the root of this actually comes from years and years and years ago. So back during “RuPaul’s Drag Race: Season 3,” there was a queen named Manila Luzon, and she had one of those flip cameras, and she filmed a lot of stuff behind the scenes, in the hotel rooms and everything. So each week, there was a new episode of “Drag Race,” she would upload her behind-the-scenes video from that week’s worth of filming. So there’s that piece of it. And watching those videos on YouTube, it was so intriguing. There was so much information you would learn. There’s a certain amount of money, and there’s a certain amount of fame you get from being on “RuPaul’s Drag Race",” so you start thinking, “Oh, when I get on “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” what am I gonna do?”
So I had this idea. If I can make it on “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” I wanna take the money I can make right in the beginning, and I want to get a decent-sized RV, and I want to create a web show or web series and make “Drag Across America.” So clubs would book me, and I’d do little videos going to each one and travel across the world. So, that idea’s always been on the backburner. And it was May 12th or 13th, I was just sitting on the couch joking – completely joking – and I think I was sitting next to my boyfriend, and then I was like, (gasps) “Oh, I got it. What if a bunch of drag queens got together on the weekends, by the vanload, and we did driveway drag shows?”
I was like, “Oh my god, that’s it, so funny, haha. I’m gonna put that as a [Facebook] status, I wanna see how people will react.” I was expecting some likes, some hahas; I was expecting like five shows, if it actually even was a thing. And it turned out, within the first 24 hours, that status blew up. People reacted to it like crazy, commenting “I want a show! I want a show!” “I’ll do it! I’ll do it!” And I woke up the next day, and I was like, “I think I have to do this.” I just wanted a joking Facebook status, maybe a little bit of attention was the whole purpose, y’know? We wanna be popular, we want people to like our status and things, so that totally had to be why I posted it, but within the first 72 hours, I had booked forty homes, and I was already on the news by the end of my third day. I was just excited for the people that were responding to it.
After the first 24 hours, I made a flier, I was like, “Okay, let me see what happens.” I host a lot of shows, so I make a lot of fliers, so making a flier doesn’t necessarily mean I committed to it. I was like, “Eh, let me throw an image out there, make it easier for people. Let’s really test the waters.” I can put a flier together in seconds. And then that’s when it really blew up, with the flier. I booked 40 homes within 72 hours. I did my first “Driveway Drag Show” within the first 48 hours of posting that status. I posted on a Tuesday afternoon.
In a nutshell, that’s why it really happened – all because of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” All because of Manila Luzon and her flip camera, and all because I really love producing. I like production. I like giving people experience, and this type of experience – not only do I get to be selfish in it, in a way. It’s my thing, it’s my gig. People applaud me, [I get] the “look at me” moment, but what the people get out of it drives me just as much. I have a huge passion for everything that this completely entails.
How was the first time performing a “Driveway Drag Show?” Was there a learning curve for you?
There’s actually been a learning curve still through this entire process. I run into more and more, because I wasn’t really prepared to start this. It was a joke; I didn’t put the fundamentals of it together, the foundation together, so I have really learned everything as I’m doing it.
The very first show we backed the car up into someone’s driveway. I do a YouTube channel, so I had this PVC pipe/quick set-up, and I had a curtain, so I had all that ready to go. We just backed the car up and opened all four of the car doors, and had that as the music. And it was a group of, I think, eight women, and they were just having cocktails in the backyard because they missed seeing each other.
Because they were so excited, and I was so excited, if anything went wrong, I have no idea that it happened because I was in auto-pilot; I just blanked out. It was a really, really cool experience. Once it was over, I wasn’t like, “Oh I’m so excited, we’re about to do this.” I was more like, “Oh my god, we just did this. Oh my god, this is actually real. Holy crap, I have to keep doing this.” It was a really great experience. Since then, I have learned. I have a weather policy in place now for inclement weather, whether it rains or it’s too hot. I now have a speaker system set-up, so my music’s evolved. I’ve gotten a new backdrop, so it’s easier and it’s a simpler set-up system. Every house, something really small has happened, but I’ve learned a lot from it.
I saw on your Instagram that you posted “When it rains, we do drag indoors.”
Yeah, we’ve been doing our virtual shows – for Babe’s [of Carytown] – our Thursday night shows for so long. I have the virtual capabilities, so why not do it? We've done, probably 20, 25 virtual shows when it’s rained for people, and it’s been really fun because it’s still a pretty intimate experience, even though we’re not there in front of you, but I give the Zoom link only to the people who need it, so only the people who are a part of the party. I tell people to unplug the HDMI cord from the back of your cable box and plug it into your laptop, so that way we’re on your TV. So everyone, instead of being huddled around a laptop, you’re huddled around a 55’’ TV.
Are you performing for audiences that have never been to a drag show before? What kind of feedback have you received from audiences - those who love drag performance, those who may never have experienced drag before, adults, children?
Oh yes, well, I have this little spiel that I give at each house, and I call the “Driveway Drag Show” kind of an outreach program. I know Richmond has an open heart and an open mind, and it just reaffirms [it], seeing everyone’s smiling faces and the way they react to the show. People are ready for this drag.
It’s one thing when you plan to go out to the bar and there’s a drag show, or you plan to go to a drag brunch and you know what’s up, but to be invited in your home – That’s your safe space. That’s where you let your hair down and escape the world. That means something to be invited to their home. That is a huge deal. But most of the people, I’d say about 90% percent of the people, we’d never have an opportunity to cross each other’s paths without this. There are some people who are unable to go to brunch for an extended period of time, maybe for health reasons or age reasons, or there are people who have young children, so they can’t go out to drag brunches, they can’t go out to night shows, so it’s easier for us to come to the home.
They are super excited; they are loving it. It is a lot of people’s first experiences. We’ve had a lot of 40th birthdays. [It’s] been one of the biggest things for us, and we have done one baby shower. We’ve had two pregnant women, so we’ve definitely had two babies’ first drag shows before they were even born, and one of the houses that we did the baby shower for, they’ve already paid, once the baby’s born, once they come home, we’re gonna do another drag show for the baby. So exciting, baby’s first drag show! - “Yeah, I’m two and a half weeks old and I’m having a drag show.”
What methods of audience engagement are you using? How do you cue the audience about expected etiquette for a drag show, such as tipping or other expectations?
I have a text message that I send out prior to arriving to their homes, that lets them know that we’re on the way, and, “Stay away from the windows while we set up, and I’ll text you when to come out.”
And that same text message, it has “Thank you so much for having us. If you’d like to tip us – cash is totally accepted,” and then it has our digital tipping information. And then for each queen, it has their social media link, and their digital information, and then I have the Facebook link for the Facebook profile page, and I have my YouTube link, and my Instagram link.
So I do it via text message, but it forces them to get it because they know I won't be arriving until I let them know I'm on the way, so when they get that, they're already by their phone waiting for it. Then they generally pass it around to the people that are there. Past that, to help even more, I have an A-sign, it’s like an easel with no legs, and I’m putting all the information of the entertainers that help me, cutting it into little strips, and then putting Velcro pieces on the front, so each show, I can put the entertainer on the front and put their information. So they’ll have it visually right there in front of them, all they have to do is read it, or they’ll have it via text message.
What is the rehearsal process like for creating material and a full performance of “Driveway Drag Show?” Is the content and process different than when you are performing in non-socially distant venues?
I don’t rehearse, practice, anything. I look in the room, I look at my costumes, and I go… “I haven’t worn you in a while, that’s what we’re doing.” When it comes to actually picking out performances and numbers, right now I’m picking numbers that don't require a whole lot of dancing because it’s very hot. We're doing a lot of good Material Girl where I can just stand and (singing) “Living in a material world”.
But the type of entertainer that I am, I like doing all types of drag, so from what I’ve done in the last month and a half, almost two months of “Driveway Drag Shows,” it’s very similar to what you’d see in the bar because I do a lot of impersonations, I do a lot of fun couture costume. Wait here let me show you – [The camera moves, and Michelle shows me a golden dress.]
This is what I made last night. It’s a corset with a skirt built into it so it’s like a dress, but I get really fun and edgy and wild and crazy or … I really fit the entire spectrum, I do the glamour, I do the demure, the polished, the poised, I do the rough and grunge, so .. It depends on the weather, if it’s gonna be outside, but if it’s indoors? Oh god, you have no idea what I’m gonna do.
Is there a social-political or activist drive behind your shows? Are you working to change the community of Richmond, VA in some way?
I wouldn’t say there is necessarily a plan going forth, but I know getting in front of these children, and exposing them to drag now is going to have some kind of domino effect at some point in their life. Exposing them to this now is going to benefit them, and they won't ever realize necessarily how they’re benefiting from it. Politically no, I do'n’t think I'm changing anything, but we're definitely changing people more on a spiritual level.
There was a woman who booked a drag show, and she was telling us that she has a friend coming, she's been dealing with self-body images, she hasn't felt real comfortable in her skin because she's a bigger girl, whatever, she just wants us to make her feel good. I’m like, “Cool, that's our plan.” So I invited one of our entertainers here in the city, her name’s Alvion, and she’s won a couple plus titles for people who are a certain weight, of certain height, so I wanted to bring her and then she did Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts.” I took that moment once Alvion was done to say, “Yeah! Give it up for Alvion! She's the current Miss Duval Plus!” I took a moment, the way I praised Alvion was fully for that woman to hear, “She's a big girl and went out and she did this! She won, look at her!”
I will say I throw out there, “Don't forget to vote in November!” I will say I throw that out there quite a lot, but I wouldn't say I have a plan politically. I think I have more of a plan about changing people’s thought processes and their mindset and just exposing them to drag will have some kind of effect, and I won't really ever know what that effect is, but I know there is an effect.
Based on the news articles I have found about your work and the sensation it’s causing in Richmond, VA, do you have any plans for expanding “Driveway Drag Show?” Should performers in other cities take it upon themselves to make their own Driveway Drag?
Oh, we have absolutely expanded. There are people in New Hampshire, Ohio, and most recently, Baltimore is now doing “Driveway Drag Show.” And I can't take full credit, because there are other entertainers out there doing driveway drag shows that I've found, but it was an idea that we all were able to come up with on our own, we didn't pick off of anyone. Like I know Tp Lords in Florida is doing it, and she was doing it before me, but I had no idea that she was doing it.
There’s just a chunk of queens out there that think the same way I do, and they love performing, they love producing, so I can't take credit for all of them but I can take credit for some of them. I had my friends up in Baltimore, and we had a chat like we’re doing now, and I told them, “This is the equipment i use, this is how i do it, this is how I make reservations, blah, blah, GO! GO DO IT! Go on! Go on!” People in Ohio, they totally were like, “Hey, I don’t wanna step on your toes or anything…” I was like, “Girl! It ain’t my idea! Go! Run with it!” And my friends in New Hampshire, they did the same thing, asked “Do you care if we do it?” So I asked them to send me up some pictures and I made them like the same flier that I had, so they had it. So yeah, we’ve definitely branched out. People are really digging this – entertainers and patrons, all over.
Has outdoor/socially distant drag taught you anything about your voice and artistry that you will continue using when you return to an indoor venue?
I think subliminally – yes. I think as far as a light switch, black-and-white answer – no. I definitely have found more confidence in myself. When it comes to entertaining, because it’s been so hot, I’ve been trying to wear gowns for something that’s easier. (whispers) I don’t like performing slow songs, I’m really bad at it…. Really bad.
But I’ve gotten really good at it, and there are a couple songs that are slow songs, and I became more confident in that. I’m already big on the microphone and because of that confidence increasing, I think my confidence as a whole has gone up some percentage. And because it’s gone up by some percentage, there’s gonna be subliminal things that are gonna happen that I’m not gonna realize. Because I was forced to do those slow songs and build more confidence, it’s gonna change something else.
I don’t have a problem speaking up because I’m on the Virginia Pride Board here in Richmond, so I already stand up for my community, and I’m fighting for my community, so I don’t have any issues speaking up, and standing up for what’s right. I’ll be mindful, I’ll be interested to see when I’m gonna do something, and I’m gonna realize once it’s over. I don’t realize it in the moment; it always has to be over when I can look back on it. I’m gonna look back on something, and I’m gonna be like, “I can’t believe I did that.” And hopefully, I’ll look at it and say, “Bitch, I bet you that’s that confidence I was talking about in that interview. That’s why I just did that.”
It’s gonna be one of those moments…Talking to you right now as I’m saying the words, there is no reason to not implement starting today – why not speak up more? And, why not speak up louder? If I know I have more confidence, and I can sit here and tell you I have more confidence, then I’ll just go for it and implement it now instead of waiting for it to subliminally happen. So tonight at our 7pm show, we’ll be starting very politically and loud.
Will you continue “Driveway Drag Show” after social distancing is over?
Oh, hundred percent. Right now my farthest booking is September. People have been asking that at shows. There’s no reason to quit this. I mean, I’m not gonna do it in the winter, I’m probably gonna take four cruises in the winter and vacation, but there’s always gonna be a birthday, there’s always gonna be a celebration. There’s always gonna be people getting together to have some fun, and why not have drag queens in it? I was originally doing this Tuesday-Sunday, so I fully had Monday off. Now I'm doing it Thursday-Sunday, so I can get Mon, Tues, Wed off. because they ran me rampant. But I will totally give up my weekends for the experience that I’m getting. It’s so rewarding. It’s an experience that I cannot recreate, the satisfaction that I get from it.
One of my favorite shows has been this home I just did about a week ago. They booked two songs, and we were having fun, and it was a bunch of kids. And I was like, “Y’all are so fun, I don’t wanna leave yet! We’ll do a final song, a group song!” So me and this entertainer did a group song, and then the parents and the kids are like, “More! More!” So I’m like, “Well, what do you y’all wanna hear? Let’s have some music.” So we turned on the song from LEGO – “Everything is Awesome.”
So the parents, two elderly couples, like six kids, and a young couple of parents, we’re all just jumping up and down in the driveway, having a dance party. It was so fun! And then the mom was like, “Oh, they’re gonna sleep good tonight!” And I said, “Oh, you want them to sleep good? Watch this! – LET’S GO RUN! COME ON, LET’S RUN!” So we ran down the driveway, we ran down the road, by like a house and a half, came back, and then we did a whole n’other song, jumping around and dancing. That experience alone was…I never would have been able to do that. There was no way I would have ever been able to do that. And that’s the only moment in time that it even would have happened. It was so cool. It was a bunch of kids jumping up and down to the LEGO soundtrack, and it was the best thing of my life almost so far. It’s just been really, really rewarding.
Michelle Livigne and “Driveway Drag Show” can be found at the following links:
Michelle’s IG: @michellelivigne
Driveway Drag Show’s IG: @drivewaydragshow
