She started planning the event in 2019 in hopes of debuting it the next year, but we all know what 2020 brought. "Because COVID shut everything down, I wasn't able to move forward with it," L'Whor recalls. "And I'm kind of glad, because I felt like I rushed the process of how I wanted things to run previously. So in a weird way, it was a blessing in disguise; it gave me more time to really think about it and how to run it."
Now, after months of planning, Colorado's Next Drag Superstar will kick off at 9 p.m. on Sunday, August 4, at X Bar, where it will be held on consecutive Sundays until Colorado's Next Drag Superstar is crowned on September 29. The drag artists competing include Galactica Coutura, Salline Cody 666, Axel Lexa, khrys’taaal, Brittany Blaze Shearz, Sir Issac Redd, Mo Whoremoans, Chase Bottoms, Felony Misdemeanor, Rubye Moore and Talia Tucker L'Whor. Each week will include a different panel of judges, and there will be prizes from a variety of sponsors.
"The best thing about this competition's contestants is we have people that have been doing it only six months, and we have people that have been doing it sixteen years," L'Whor says. "So there's such a mixture of talents, interpretations, generational drag that's being brought into play. And I think it makes it more exciting to see. You can be just a couple months into the game and still have a creative outlook that somebody sixteen years in the game doesn't have."
L'Whor emphasizes that this is not a "teach you how to do drag" contest. "This is a 'show us what you're made of' competition," she says. "We're not mentoring the contestants on what they could do better or how to fix something in their drag. We want people to come confident — that's the biggest key. Confident in their art and their craft, and really show up."
The competition will have "twists and turns," she teases, and a very egalitarian ethos. "It's a non-elimination-based competition, so competitors are locked in for at least seven of those weeks," L'Whor explains. "Their goal is to accumulate the most number of points each week...and those points will be added up week to week to determine who has the most over the course of those weeks. At week seven, we're going to eliminate half of the cast, and the final five remaining will go the finale round."
The first-place winner will receive a prize package worth $13,000 ($3,000 of it cash), including a photo insert in Westword; a sash and scepter; an interview with Jordan Chavez on 9News; a guaranteed spot on center stage at Denver Pride; self-care packages that include injections, facials and laser hair removal; and much more. Meanwhile, second- and third-place winners will also receive prize packages valued at $1,500 and $1,000, and Miss Congeniality will receive an $800 prize package.
"I needed it to be appealing to the elites that I'm reaching out to in this community," L'Whor explains. "I want people to feel valued for their time that they're investing into this."
She notes that the competition sets itself apart by taking care to reward everyone for their time, with weekly prizes after each event. "We found many times in the scene, people are kind of abused for their time and their art, their artistic abilities in competition settings here," she says. "Venues can really count on the fact that these contestants will show up and show out for twelve weeks, sixteen weeks sometimes, to do a competition, with very little transparency on how things are going to work, what they're looking for, anything to set them up for success. And the payout, the prize packages, you're volunteering your time every week for."
Jessica L'Whor is also the creator of the DIVAs, an awards show for drag artists in Denver.
Brian Degendfelder
Three Colorado performers have been on that groundbreaking show: second-place winner Nina Flowers and first-place winners Yvie Oddly and Willow Pill. "I think Colorado's drag scene is significantly overlooked, and I'm trying to figure out why," L'Whor says. "If you look at it statistically, we've had only three people on in comparison to New York, for example, which is a huge drag hub, and they've had probably thirty contestants or more on, and only maybe one or two winners or first- or second-placers. Our statistics are so good.
"We're overlooked in the sense that our drag is thriving — it always has thrived," L'Whor continues, adding that many people may not know that. "There's pockets and venues and spaces that really hold diverse performance art in such ways that I think people don't realize. I wish more people traveled here and experienced it. I guess it's because we're not known for having, like, the wildest, craziest nightlife to exist, but we have such a thriving queer scene here that's just booming with art and varieties of talent."
Adds L'Whor: "Drag keeps me going every day." She started eleven years ago, and today has a business with a team of six people.
"I took the three loves that I wanted to do when I was in college or growing up, which was teaching, performance art and owning a business, and I was able to do one solid thing with it all, which is drag," she concludes. "And on top of that, I feel like I'm an influencer and provide people a voice that they don't get to hear very often. And that makes me feel empowered, and I love, I love what I do. It doesn't feel like work. It feels like making a difference."
Colorado's Next Drag Superstar is scheduled for 9 p.m. Sundays from August 4 through September 29 at X Bar, 629 East Colfax Avenue; admission is free.
