‘That’s fab’: The story of Dungeons & Drag Queens

Though the creative, queer and comedic adventurers of “Dungeons & Drag Queens,” may now fight fantasy villains in the iconic tabletop game, Dungeons & Dragons, the group’s first archenemy was a rice cooker in the basement of a now-closed Seattle restaurant.

The group started performing at Jai Thai on Capitol Hill in not-so-glamorous conditions.

“The dressing room was just a hallway that was about the width of a person and there was a rice cooker in there, as well, sometimes actively cooking rice, and we couldn’t have any of it. That’s the worst part for sure,” said comedian Paul Curry, Dungeon Master of the group. “And then, unfortunately, the mirror that the queens had to change in was just a broken mirror, like just a shattered cut of glass that was leaning against the wall. It was not glamorous.”

“Dungeons & Drag Queens” (DNDQ), which will take the Bing Crosby Theater stage on Friday, first began as a feature presented by DnDLOL, a comedy group focused around the game. After Curry met Issa Man, a performer in DNDQ, they decided to present a special show.

“We were like, ‘We’ll have a little one-off show that’s like DndLOL presents Dungeons & Drag Queens,’ ” Curry said. “So we did that and we immediately started seeing some success, which to us was like selling 40 tickets. We were so blown away.”

Then, after the pandemic forced DnDLOL to a halt, Curry pivoted to focus on creating DNDQ as its own show.

Since their humble beginnings, the group of adventurers has grown their reach, even touring internationally to Vancouver, B.C.

“Every time I think about it, it puts the biggest smile on my face to think about how far we’ve come from having our dressing room be the basement of Jai Thai, which is this restaurant that had faulty sewer pipes and rats all over their basement,” performer Tina Shea Monet said. “I’m so excited for the future of the show and just to be here, and have all of the laughter and all of the joy that we get to express and all of the absolute insanity that makes the show fun.

“This is the one show where I get to gladly be as unhinged as I want to be.”

Curry said he has enjoyed seeing the drag and D&D worlds merge through DNDQ. There are a variety of audience members who love the show, from die hard D&D players to drag fans who love the energy and wit of the show.

“I think there’s a lot of overlap between what drag and what Dungeons & Dragons provides to people,” Curry said. “There’s a lot of expression, as Tina said, of being yourself. The ability to be who you want to be, look how you want to look, feel how you want to feel. That is integral, I think, to both D&D and drag.”

Merging the two communities, and creating a new one through DNDQ, has been a moving experience for the queens and production team.

Carson Grubb, who grew up in Spokane and is the improvisational musician for DNDQ, said seeing DNDQ grow has created a unique community that was missing during his childhood.

“It’s been absolutely fantastic watching the show grow, it’s been magical,” Grubb said. “I grew up in Spokane and, to me, there wasn’t the kind of expression of identity that I was really craving as an adolescent. There wasn’t the access to nerd culture like I was really craving, even if I didn’t have the words for it at the time.

“And since we’ve done this show, we’ve been able to put these things in the culture together that make so much sense.”

For many people, DNDQ is their first time seeing a drag show. On the flip side, many drag fans are experiencing D&D for the first time, including performing queens Issa Man, Tina Shea Monet and Miss Ma’am She, who first played D&D during DNDQ.

Whether or not audience members have played D&D before, they can grasp the concepts as the drag queens learn how to play on stage.

“Even if you don’t have any experience with Dungeons & Dragons, you don’t know what it is, have never played it, you can still come to the show and you can still have a really good time,” Curry said.

Many audience members have started playing D&D after seeing the show, Curry said. As a Dungeon Master, he makes sure the game is a safe place for the queens to ask questions, making it more accessible to audience members who are new to the game.

“I think part of the Dungeons & Dragons experience is that confusion,” Curry said. “Part of it is learning how to play the game and part of it is getting immersed into your character in real time.”

But, even if audience members are not superfans of either drag or D&D, there is plenty of humor and chaotic fun to go around.

“I think the game was fab, just wanted to throw it out there,” Ma’am She said. “And something I didn’t realize was how you could really do anything in that game. I think that’s really fun for audiences and for the queens, like things can pivot really well.”

Tina Shea Monet said their performances are extremely “unhinged.”

“This is so fab,” she said. “I really need to make sure that the word unhinged is in this interview at least four times, please, because I really need new readers and people who are finding out about us to understand that it is unhinged, and it really can’t go anywhere.”

The fabulous nature of DNDQ was a key takeaway from the queens.

“In fact, let’s just call the article, ‘That’s Fab: The story of Dungeons & Drag Queens,’ ” Ma’am She said.

Miss Ma’am She contributed to the headline.