Darby Lynn Cartwright has been a staple of Chicago queer nightlife for several years now, after stumbling into the artform essentially on accident. Over this time, Cartwright has witnessed the scene change in a number of ways. First, Darby has mentioned seeing stars who cut their teeth in Chicago like Shea Coulee, Kim Chi, The Vixen, and Trixie Mattel be catapulted into mainstream fame after appearing on Rupaul’s Drag Race, and how that affected the way that the Chicago drag scene looked. Prior to all of this attention, Darby recalled there being fewer than ten working queens in the city at any given time, including some of the previously-mentioned queens. Now, she says, there are hundreds.
More recently, though, a change has come up that has been objectively for the better. In mid-June, an open letter was published and signed by many working performers in the city, calling out several entertainers and bars in the neighborhood of Northalstead, formerly Boystown. To remedy the situation, a town hall was set to be live-streamed to Twitch on June 20. During this stream, venues like Roscoe’s Tavern and Sidetrack, as well as performers including T Rex, Kat Sass, and Cartwright herself were meant to have an open discussion with several black performers who had been at the receiving end of racial injustice at the hands of these figures. Most of these conversations did not seem to be the most productive because of the reactions of those accused, but one individual’s reaction did stand out to me: Darby Lynn Cartwright’s. Previously known as Dixie Lynn Cartwright, she immediately changed her name after coming to terms with the racial implications of the term ‘dixie’. She also distanced herself from Sidetrack, her home bar prior to all of this coming up. The way that she handled the entire situation truly turned me into a fan, so I was incredibly excited when she agreed to answer a few questions for me this past week.
SM: What called you to do drag?
DLC: I honestly NEVER wanted to do drag. I grew up in a very strict Southern Baptist environment where my femininity was always mocked. So even after I came out, I held onto that internalized homophobia. I used to look down on anyone who was overtly feminine ( - lol. Me. I did that. Super gay fem former-twink me). It was only after I did a live-singing drag show for the Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus, completely on a drunken whim after someone dropped out, that I began to let go of that ridiculous homophobic shit. It took YEARS, and the first couple of years, I had a strict “no tagging” rule of photos of me in drag on Facebook, but I finally arrived…and now I’m a girl on the internet!
SM: I know that you were a singer prior to beginning drag, how has that affected your drag persona or style of performing?
DLC: It kind of…hindered my performance style? Or at least the growth of my performance style. I wish I had not been so focused on what I was used to, singing, and instead learned to lip-sync when I first started and had plenty of opportunities to explore it. I am grateful to have singing as an outlet and I love doing my drag cabaret with Alexis Bevels, but I do wish I had explored other avenues. By the time I realized that I needed to broaden my performance horizons, I was stumbling into hosting and then just stuck with that. I love making fun of drunk people from the suburbs. It’s my calling.
SM: I’ve seen you host several shows, both in person and virtually, and you’re always hilarious. Do you have a background in comedy? Do you write any jokes beforehand, or is it mostly improvisation? How do you think that hosting often with entertainers like Aunty Chan or Alexis Bevels affects your energy when performing?
DLC: Thank you. I AM hilarious. You are correct. I don’t have a background in comedy, but I was always trying to make people laugh growing up. I used it as a defense mechanism, really. If I made everyone laugh or made fun of myself, they couldn’t make fun of me first (classic Netflix closeted gay teen character with good hair). Most of what I do on-stage is completely improvised. I do have my go-to zingers, but mostly I just like to listen and respond to what other people are saying. It’s fun to host with other queens because they can completely change the energy, but I definitely still like to drive the car. I’m a bit of a dominant host! I’m fun at parties.
SM: You have clearly had success with social media; what is your general approach to posting content? Is it a carefully curated process?
DLC: Oh gosh! I hate to sound like an old lady, but that was a big learning process. Like…I was around for the original College Facebook, the version of Facebook that only certain colleges could use. ORIGINAL - I’m old. When Twitter came out, I thought it was a fad that would pass lol It wasn’t until I began IMHO and became closer to Chan that I really began to explore it. Chan is a MASTER at social media. I just kind of followed her lead and it exploded from there. I don’t have a formula, but I do take inspiration from what I see on my timeline and put my own, hilarious twist on it. Did I mention how funny I am?
SM: How has the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent quarantine restrictions changed the way that you approach your art?
DLC: Wowza. I mean…it flipped it on its head, but honestly? I needed it. I had kind of let my drag go stale. I was working the same gigs over and over at Sidetrack, wearing the same clothes, the same hair…not caring because eh, I was just telling jokes to drunk people. Who cares? I was doing IMHO, but only when I could fit it in-between gigs. I was kind of miserable. Thanks to the quarantine, it forced me out of my rut with Sidetrack, and it forced me to take IMHO (my main source of income) much more seriously. And honestly…I love it. IMHO is a bit overwhelming as I edit everything and run our Patreon, but I love having a creative outlet on my own terms.
SM: When everything came to the forefront in June regarding the open letter that was published and the town hall, what was going through your head? What were your first steps?
DLC: That June changed my life profoundly. When I got invited to the town hall, I was a little worried because I was never forced to examine my role in the community. I was on the older side of working drag queens. I rarely went out or interacted with people in the community. I just did my job at Sidetrack and went home. I heard the comments about Sidetrack being a bar that black people felt uncomfortable in, but I easily brushed those off as, “I’m just the host. I don’t create the environment.” I used the fact that we often hired black performers as an excuse, basically the “but I have a black friend” excuse. During the town hall, when people I cared about were telling me, “your participation, your relationship with Sidetrack, and your silence hurt me.” I was forced to finally examine the things I had, in my privileged position, been ignoring. A year prior to the town hall, almost to the date, I had stepped down as host of our Beyoncé night at Sidetrack because I finally listened to some of the black voices around me. It was a decision that Sidetrack was very not happy about, which should have been a red flag, but I didn’t see all the red flags until the town hall and the resulting fallout.
After the town hall, I was lucky enough to speak with more black performers in the community who told me how my actions as the head queen at Sidetrack and the actions of the bar hurt them. I released a statement on Facebook stating that I would not be returning to Sidetrack until these issues were resolved and that I would be changing my name, as Dixie carries very hurtful connotations. IMHO also separated with Sidetrack on what we thought were good terms. But, and I haven’t spoken publicly about this, Sidetrack became very upset with the video we made stating that we were stepping away as Sidetrack did the work they needed to do. After erasing my pictures on their social media, removing me from the employee Facebook group, and my manager publicly stating that he was relieved to delete my photos, I went to them to ask what was wrong. They told me that I had called for a boycott of Sidetrack (I did not. No one viewed what I said in that manner) and that I was “performing” in the town hall to tell “them what they wanted to hear.” It was a horrific and abusive conversation filled with gaslighting and and us (white people) vs them (black performers) mentality. That was in July. I have not spoken to them since. Despite their true colors finally becoming clear, it was one of the most painful moments of my life. I worked there for 6 years. They were my family. Yes, dysfunctional, and upon further reflection, manipulative, but it felt like they were all I had. Losing them forced me to examine the decisions made by them for years that were steeped in racism. The decisions that I often defended. The desire to look good, but not the willingness to understand and make a change. And you know who was there to help me the DAY it happened? Lucy Stoole. She sat with me for hours and helped me work through it. She checked on me in the following days. She didn’t have to do that. We’ve never been close. I was a big part of the problem in the community, but she did it because she wants to help those who are seeking help. It was a painful and embarrassing realization to come to only after this movement, but I am happy to have been given the opportunity to realize the hurtful decisions I’ve made and make them right. My relationship with Chan is much stronger, my relationship with the IMHO audience feels stronger, and most importantly, I now have friendships and solid working relationships with black performers that just wasn’t possible before. I feel that I am a completely different person and I am so grateful for everything I’ve learned and grateful to those who have helped me learn it. I still have a long way to go, but this journey is truly filled with love and joy.
SM: What progress would you like to see going forward in Northalstead and the greater Chicago queer community?
DLC: The progress brought up in June (more black managers, more black people in positions of power, more trans representation in management) is ultimately what I want to see. It seems that those changes may not be so easily implemented, as we saw with the fight for dropping “Boystown” from the community…and the reason? The older white gay man didn’t want to change it. It needs to be a queer space with less white gay men at the helm. I say that as a white gay man myself. We don’t have the background or the experience to create a safe space for all. No matter how much we want to help, we cannot do it alone. We’ve had our opportunity to lead. It is now time we stand back and support new Black, Trans, and POC leaders.
SM: Which local Chicago performers do you think everyone needs to check out?
DLC: Well…I love this girl named Darby. She’s very beautiful and thin and blonde and talented. But if you’ve already heard of her, which I’m sure you have because she is incredibly famous, then I would DEF suggest Chamilla Foxx (mother of Season 13’s Denali), Abhijeet (her makeup…insane, wonderful, enchanting), Nico (the genderfuckery we all need in our lives), ANY of the Coulee sisters, and…Darby. She’s gorgeous. Thank you for coming to my TedTalk
Darby Lynn Cartwright can be found on Instagram and Twitter, and her show IMHO can be seen on YouTube.
Words, questions, and photos are from Shelby Miller unless otherwise specified.
Sources
https://twitter.com/TheDarbyLynn/status/1275929171861155842?s=20
https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-tea-3/episode/dida-ritz-sasha-love-and-darby-lynn-cartwright-77648519
https://soundcloud.com/thedevinhour/country-boy-to-chicago-queen-with-darby-lynn-cartwright-drag-queen-extravaganza-finale
https://instinctmagazine.com/the-chicago-black-drag-town-hall-sparks-a-much-needed-conversation-on-racial-inequality-in-boystown/
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