Forty years ago, a group of young gay men began hosting impromptu drag shows in their Rubicon Street home in Dayton.
The shows they put on were, at first, performed for fun for themselves and their friends. They couldn't afford to perform anywhere else.
But their performances and their audiences grew. They soon started gracing local gay clubs and other venues as the Rubi Girls, Dayton's beloved comedic drag troupe.
On a recent evening inside the Rubi Clubhouse on Wayne Avenue, three long-time members — Josh Stucky, Brent Johnson and Jonathan McNeal — show off some of their outfits for their upcoming production, "The Show Must Go On." The show, which will mark the troupe's 40th anniversary, is at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Dayton Arcade, 35 W. 4th St. in Dayton.
The clubhouse is packed with colorful costumes, props and memorabilia. "The Show Must Go On" is an annual production and a fundraiser for HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ-related charities.
McNeal is also manager of The Neon movie theater in Dayton and performs as Ileasa Plymouth. He was a fan of the troupe before getting on stage with them.
“It was still just a group of friends who decided that they were going to do a show on a whatever night, or maybe they had been invited to be a part of a benefit or something like that," McNeal said. "It became, 'Let's not keep the money, because who really gets it?' It didn't seem fair to divvy it up in a way that, you know, this person did more work than the other, whatever, so let's just give it away. And there are lots of organizations that need it. So I think that's really how that was born."
Stucky, who performs as Dana Sintell, says it wasn't until 10 years ago that the Rubi Girls made official their philosophy of giving back.
“So 30 years in, the Rubi Girls finally figured out, if we do this nonprofit thing, it really benefits even more than just these $100 shows we were doing,” he said. “And so now it's in the thousands and millions of dollars in donations. So that really changed.”
Stucky and his husband, Johnson, are two of the founders of the Rubi Girls, and they're celebrating another anniversary this fall also as co-founders and co-owners of Square One, Salon and Spa. Johnson, who Rubi audiences know as India Summer, said their charitable philosophy followed them in that venture
“We started with very little, but one of the owners of Square One is also one of the originators of the Rubi Girls, so it goes without saying that when we opened our for-profit business of Square One, giving back and being part of the community was a cornerstone of our brand, in our DNA."
All new business owners should learn to give back to their community, Stuckey said.
"How that comes back to you, well, you can't even explain it. It's just tenfold," he said. "So I think it's very important to always keep that in mind."
In the beginning of the salon, they didn't earn much beyond what they needed to get by for three or four years and had to have other jobs, Johnson said, but they still supported the community.
"And so we were giving back to the community before we were giving to ourselves for the investment of time," he said.
Square One has evolved as more than just a simple hair salon. All new employees go through a class about its culture and mission, Stucky said.
"If you look at our mission statement, nowhere in our mission statement is hair, nails, skin, massage. It's never mentioned. It's always about customer service, charity, community, taking care of the culture that we have built," Stucky said. "And I think for them, they're kind of like, 'Oh, this isn't really about me going in and giving somebody a bob. This is really about going outside of the salon and doing for people.' And that's part of what we try to instill in our family of employees."
It's important for them to treat everyone with respect and appreciation, Johnson said, regardless of if they're delivering the mail, fixing the plumbing or delivering merchandise.
"We really want everyone to feel welcome and a part, and be part of who and what we are," he said.
The upcoming event, "The Show Must Go On" will celebrate 40 years of the Rubi Girls. One popular segment of the show is the "Year in Review" set.
It started out as a piece to comment on news, events and cultural happenings throughout the past year, McNeal said, with the performers at a news desk.
"Then we started with actually having a video of them at a news desk and it was rudimentary green screen initially, and then now it's a full-on production ... that really looks like they're on the NBC News. I mean, it feels legit. It's funny," McNeal said.
"It's not legit," Johnson quipped. "It feels legit. It's so not legit. You're welcome."
When audiences come to "The Show Must Go On," Stucky wants them to remember how the Rubi Girls have focused on helping people.
"Our entertaining is really just a vessel to get people to donate to different organizations in the area," he said. "So even though you're laughing your head off and having the time of your life, what you're really doing is benefiting people who really need it in our community."
This year, they will donate the proceeds to close to 100 nonprofits and charities.
"And why and how we're able to do that is because of the people of Dayton," Johnson said. "I was at a meeting yesterday and they said, 'Why do you love Dayton?' And what I love about Dayton is all these wonderful people that we get to interact with here and support things like this that maybe other communities wouldn't."
So how long will the Rubi Girls keep going? Stucky said they've been discussing it.
"For these bigger events like 'The Show Must Go On' maybe the fuse is a little bit shorter, but we love doing these small events," he said. "We were having this conversation today about it's easier, but it's also more intimate when we can just be in a smaller bar or whatever that might be and doing trivia or doing bingo. It's smaller and more intimate.
The members span generations.
"I'm 62 and I think Jackie's, what, 30? And so that's, you know, that's a whole lifetime in between those two things," Stucky said. "So I think for them, let's pray to God that they can find a way to keep this thing going. But, you know, who knows? I mean, I keep telling Brent, every time we do this thing, we go home after rehearsal. I'm like, every bone in my body hurts. So how much longer I can do it physically? That's really the thing."
