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OH 2131

About the Interviewee

IntervieweePatron, BellaDonna (b. 1987)

About this oral history

Interview ID #OH 2131
Date(s) of interview
Description

I sat down with BellaDonna Patron at her home in Denton, Texas to discuss her experiences doing drag here in Denton. We discussed her earliest experiences with media, her relationship with her grandmother and mother, and her first time seeing drag live, all of which inspired her own performance and drag persona. We discuss many of the people who became her community, how the drag family operates and how BellaDonna’s drag family is different, more of a “sisterhood.” We discuss the now-closed bars Mabel Peabody’s Beauty Parlor and Chainsaw Repair and Crossroads, which served as formative queer spaces in Denton for BellaDonna and various other queer performers. We discuss some of the larger influences on drag culture, namely the impact of Ru Paul’s Drag Race and its mainstream success. We also discuss BellaDonna’s and her business partner and friend, Mary Anne Somers’s, ongoing work in the form of: The Golden Cabaret, which was recently disbanded; and The Stooped Bicthes Podcast, which is approaching its one-year anniversary. 

Interviewer(s)Zachary Prater
Physical Description88 pp.
Terms of UseOpen

Category