By Denny Patterson

Are you ready to once again spread holiday joy and merriment with the queens of RuPaul’s Drag Race?

Murray and Peter proudly present the 10th anniversary of A Drag Queen Christmas, bringing its 2024 tour to the Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts (December 26), South Florida’s Coral Springs Center for the Arts (December 27), the Straz Center in Tampa (December 28), and the Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater (December 29). Featuring winners, all stars, and fan favorites, this annual production is a festive experience full of jaw-dropping performances and electrifying lip-sync battles.

OutClique recently caught up with Season 16’s Plasma, who is celebrating her first year with the tour. Exuding vintage-inspired charm and drawing inspiration from the golden age of Hollywood, this New York City queen was a standout and confidently displayed her musical theater chops, which earned her two maxi challenge wins.

Keep reading to find out what she has to say about A Drag Queen Christmas, her Drag Race journey, and more. 

Denny Patterson: Hi, Plasma! How excited are you to embark on your debut Drag Queen Christmas tour?

Plasma: I’m thrilled! Christmas in my family, although we’ve parted ways from the Christian Christmas in a lot of ways, but the tradition of Christmas is huge in my family and life. So, to be able to celebrate it on the road with some of the titans of our industry is a cool privilege. I’m very, very excited. 

Denny Patterson: I can only imagine how amazing it’s going to be to travel and connect with queens from previous seasons.

Plasma: That’s seriously one of the perks of the job. I’m sort of sharing the bill with girls that I’ve looked up to for years and years and years, like Miz Cracker, Shea Couleé, Trinity the Tuck, Brooke Lynn Hytes, Sasha Colby, and then I get to share it with my Season 16 sisters like Sapphira, Plane Jane, and Q. It’s like a Season 16 pep rally amidst the legendary company of everyone else on the tour. I’m also lucky enough to do both legs, so I’ll have time with both casts and with all of the girls.

Denny Patterson: What can we expect from your set?

Plasma: Well, there’s sort of an infamous Barbra Streisand Christmas classic, which the girls who know will know. I’m also bringing a touch of vintage Hollywood sort of Christmas burlesque. So I’m bringing classic, stupid, foolish drag on the road.

Denny Patterson: You mentioned that Christmas is huge for you and your family. How do you typically celebrate?

Plasma: I’m from Texas, so as you know, family holidays in Texas are traditions that run deep. All my extended family lived within a 90-mile radius of each other, so we used to congregate at my great grandmother’s house on Christmas Eve, when my great grandparents were still alive, then go to my mom’s parents’ house before doing Christmas Eve service with the baby Jesus. On Christmas morning, it would be my mom, dad, sister, and I, and then we would celebrate Christmas evening with my other grandparents, who lived right down the road. So, it was a huge festival of festivities, but as people have passed away and we’ve grown up, my sister and I sort of dispersed on that tradition. Nowadays, I typically take a week off and go to Texas to visit my family, where we’ll sit around the tree, listening to Michael Bublé and Bette Midler’s Christmas albums, and catch up with each other. 

Denny Patterson: What is one of your most memorable holiday memories?

Plasma: Up until me, my great aunt has been the singer in our family. Every Christmas, at our really big extended gathering, she would try to lead everyone in a chorus of songs. Of course, no one else in my family is a singer or wants to sing. They just want to eat and talk with civility about their years. It was either last year or a couple years ago, she was talking with one of her grandchildren and was like, oh, come on! Sing “Jingle Bells” with grandma! And this little girl was like, no! I’m not singing! That’s stupid! We were all just a little bit like, hmm, someone’s going to pull out a gun or fight my great aunt. It was just general chaos. It looks like a Norman Rockwell Christmas, and then you infiltrate it and realize there’s a lot of intricate themes (laughs). So, that’s one memory I’ll always remember. Another is our COVID Christmas. Family flew in and sat on the back porch of our house with the door open, peering in at the rest of us opening presents because we were all sick. We’ve certainly had some times! 

Denny Patterson: There are also several LGBTQ+ people who struggle during this time of year. What advice or words of comfort can you offer them? 

Plasma: I think there’s a lot of pressure on the capitalistic elements of the holidays, and if I’ve learned anything from my family, as long as you’re with the people that remind you of how wonderful your life can be or how uplifted you can feel, that’s what the holidays should be about. We can get swept up in this capitalistic understanding of what giving gifts looks like, but everyone’s love language is different. You don’t have to hand someone a box with a ribbon on it to share love or show appreciation and respect.  It’s more about togetherness than the physical stuff. I’m literally telling people I don’t need anything this year. All I want is to see my parents, grandparents, and sister. I just want to see my people, and whether that’s your blood family, biological family, chosen family – as long as you feel accepted, supported, and share love with each other, that’s what the holidays are supposed to be about.

Denny Patterson: Switching gears, I’d like to ask a couple questions about your Drag Race journey. Coming fresh off the most recent U.S. season, how much of a whirlwind has this year been for you?

Plasma: It’s been wonderful! Drag Race is truly kind of a singular launch pad for drag performers, and I’ve met some of my heroes in the Broadway community because I was on the show. I’ve met Tony-winning choreographer Jerry Mitchell, Paul Wontorek, who I used to watch on Broadway.com growing up in my parents house, Harvey Firestein, a prolific playwright and queer person in the Broadway industry. I got invited to the Emmys and was six feet away from Meryl Streep. The people that I’ve been able to be around, that I’ve looked up to for so long, have reminded me of the bombastic opportunity that I was given. Aside from everything that happened on the show, the aftermath has been wonderful.

Denny Patterson: And I know you’ve talked about this before, but for our readers, can you talk a bit more about how you discovered your love and passion for drag?

Plasma: Watching Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady and Bernadette Peters in the filmed stage version of Into the Woods are my first formative memories, and growing up, I always had a fascination with old Hollywood and the regality of these women. These superstars, these movie stars. My family shared a lot of love for that time period with me and those classic, old Hollywood beauty standards. By the time I got to college, I was a musical theater nerd. Every young gay boy in musical theater has his lineup of divas, and I was entrenched in the culture of Patti LuPone, Bernadette Peters, Elaine Stritch, Audra McDonald, and the great Barbra Streisand. I would say drag was born out of my queerness and my theatricality not quite meeting in the middle. Doing theater, I was asked to play the young straight male lead, and all I wanted to do was an eleven o’clock number in a feather boa. So, Plasma was born out of both of these understandings of entertainment value, and then learned how to do my makeup.

Denny Patterson: Theater queens seem to not have the best records in the competition. Did that discourage you at all?

Plasma: Look, they gave me a sketch comedy challenge about Barbra Streisand and a rusical about Julie Andrews!  When I say I don’t have many complaints or regrets, I genuinely don’t have many complaints or regrets. I don’t feel like I could have gone on at a better time. They were looking for a seamstress, and by God, they found her in one Miss Banana Queen. I don’t feel like I got screwed over. I very much feel like the show happened at the right time, and I was in the right mindset at the right point of my life to capitalize on the same things that Plasma is inspired by or born of. It felt I was there with intention, purpose, clarity, and focus. 

Denny Patterson: Do you believe Drag Race is changing the narrative on Broadway? This year alone, two former girls, Jinkx Monsoon and Marcia Marcia Marcia, have performed in blockbuster shows.

Plasma: Broadway has always been about good performers, good performances, and having strong perspectives on things that we all cherish. Jinkx was on Broadway in a Jinkx capacity, which sort of opened the door for the crossover between the drag and Broadway worlds. Marcia is now in Cabaret billed as Marty Lauter and is doing a truly poignant job as the Emcee. She’s unbelievable, and I think Marcia is laying the groundwork for drag performers to be taken in a legitimate sense, whether they’re in drag or not. Broadway was my first dream ever in this life, so I would be thrilled to join the ranks. Of course, Drag the Musical recently opened with Alaska, Jan, Jujubee, Lux, and Lagoona Bloo.That’s a story of drag queens for drag queens by drag queens, so help me God. So, there is a narrative shift happening in the New York theater community that’s very exciting. I also just signed with a big Broadway/TV/film agent, so I’m looking forward to whatever prosperity that brings. Hopefully, a Broadway opportunity at some point. 

Denny Patterson: Sadly, we saw you sashay away in the neo-goth design challenge episode, and you seemed a bit disassociated during the lip sync against Mhi’ya Iman LePaige. What was happening?

Plasma: I don’t remember much of that moment because I may have blacked out just a little bit. It was very jarring. I haven’t competed in a lip sync like that in years. I did the New York City competitive drag show circuit when I first moved here for a while, but I haven’t gone head-to-head with someone else in a lip sync in a long time, and it’s a different kind of competitive energy. So much is out of your control. There was a moment I do remember during the lip sync, when I was crawling on my hands and knees. I remember looking at every single judge individually, and every single one, it was Michelle, Ru, Carson, and Kaia Gerber, every single one of them looked dead pan at Mhi’ya. I sort of resigned myself to the understanding of like, okay, it’s not my time, and that’s okay. I’m walking out here with two wins, and this girl isn’t. 

Denny Patterson: If asked to come back for an All Stars season, would you?

Plasma: (Laughs) I’m lucky I get asked this a lot, and my official statement is, I’m not in the habit of turning down good opportunities. So, if the time is right and it makes sense for me, and I’m in a good mental health, financial, and work capacity, then I would absolutely do it. 

Denny Patterson:  What are some other future goals you hope to accomplish with your career and platform?

Plasma: I’ve  preached it from the rooftops now, but I’m still manifesting a cameo on Abbot Elementary as Chris Perfetti’s brother. I have Joey Nolfi from Entertainment Weekly to thank for that one. Then I met Quinta Brunson at the Emmys, and she knew who I was, which blew my mind. We got a picture, and she was lovely. So I’m hoping the universe is keeping that iron in the fire. Then as I said before, I would love to be on Broadway. That’s been my dream since I was old enough to walk or perceive the world. If I could join the ranks of the Broadway community and do what I love for eight shows a week, and truly put my instrument to the test next to the greats that have come before me, that would be picturesque. I’d also love to do more TV and film and simply uplift queer voices in ways that don’t trivialize us. I’ve seen a lot in the media over the last decade or so where queer people are included and invited to the table, but then manipulated into talking points or political bargaining chips.

Denny Patterson: Before we wrap up, are there any other upcoming projects or anything else you’d like to mention or plug?

Plasma: I will be working a lot this fall, and then I go on tour with Murray and Peter Presents A Drag Queen Christmas, starting on November 13, 2024 in Detroit! I have a lot going on, which I’m very excited about, so stay tuned!