On a recent afternoon at Yellow Cab Tavern in Dayton, drag performer Scarlett Moon warmed up the crowd.
“Are you ready for the next entertainer?” she said.
In the cramped backstage area, Ava Aurora Fox was awaiting her entrance.
“As soon as I start putting on costumes, hair, and jewelry, that's when I think 'Ava' starts to turn on,” she said.
Austin Newell, who performs as Scarlett Moon, and Bobby Campos, who performs as Ava Aurora Foxx, are part of a new, younger generation of drag performers aiming to reach a more diverse audience in the Miami Valley. WYSO uses Campos and Newell’s drag names throughout this story.
But they’re facing some obstacles: drag venues closed during the pandemic, and Republican lawmakers at the Statehouse are discussing a bill banning some drag performances.
Moon and Fox talked with WYSO about performing in the current economic and political environment.
Moon and Fox first met six years ago at Club Masque, an important bar for the queer community in Dayton. Moon remembered her first encounter at Club Masque where she saw well-known Dayton drag queen Amaya Sexton.
“I just was jaw dropped!” she said. "I've seen this on TV shows but to see it in real life, it kind of just changes you.”
When Moon was in high school, she designed costumes for theater productions. That's when she came across “RuPaul's Drag Race” and imagined herself taking the stage.
Finally, she mustered up the courage to perform for the first time at Club Masque.
“I did 'Back to Black' by Amy Winehouse in a black dress I bought from a prom website, and I had a blonde wig I bought from somebody in New York,” Moon said.
Then, in 2020, Club Masque closed. Fox said it left behind a void.
“There's not really a lot of variety here anymore,” she said. “That's what makes a gay scene or gay culture so special is to have multiple venues that support what you do.”
At the time, Club Masque was one of the only drag venues in the Miami Valley. After it closed, Moon started her own business, bringing drag performances to a variety of venues.
“So, Scarlett provides that opportunity because she hosts different shows in different venues that you wouldn't think necessarily would do drag,” Fox said.
Now, Scarlet Moon Productions hosts drag brunches and other events at several locations in the Dayton area and beyond. In the last year, the company has shifted to specialty-themed shows, including Disney, The Golden Girls, and the popular Taylor Swift Eras Tour.
Hosting drag shows at these venues has brought in a larger and more diverse audience, which Fox has noticed when she performs.
“I hate to say this, but usually, the straight people have a better time than gay people do because it’s not what they normally do on a Friday or Saturday,” Ava said.
Ohio adopted a bill this past year to regulate some drag performances in public spaces. Moon said she finds this measure unwarranted.
“It’s so crazy to me that people automatically just resort to sex for everything,” she said. "Drag queens, if you think about it, most of us have layers and layers of tights on, and we are uncomfortable.”
During the second half of the show, she called several audience members up for a dance contest, including one person who was initially timid when pulled up to the stage.
“Seeing that person performing and light up was just so amazing to me,” she said. “I’m able to do that now for people just the way that Amaya did that for me.”
Moon hopes to expand her productions to more states while reaching both queer and straight communities, making safe spaces for all.
“Families are being broken apart because of who they like,” she said. “It's really important to make sure we have an area for them to know that they're welcomed and they're not going to be shoved away because of who they like.”
