A few months back at Anime Magic 2023, I had the sincere pleasure of sitting down to interview an icon in the Midwest cosplay and drag scene, Ms. Oriana Peron. As a regular convention attendee for the past couple of years, I’ve had the privilege of seeing her live on a couple of occasions, and her shows are always raucous fun.

In her own words, Oriana is “a drag queen who strives to entertain and inspire her audiences through her bold and captivating performances. Celebrating self-expression and individuality, Oriana is passionate about creating a safe and inclusive space for her audiences to explore their identity.

Oriana’s performances are full of energy and sparkle, making her a must-see act in the drag world. When she’s not on stage, she is also a dedicated drag educator and mentor, helping to nurture the next generation of drag performers.”

Zella: With a name like Oriana Peron, I imagine you’re a bit of a diva at heart. What inspired the moniker?

Oriana: Oriana is actually the princess from the 1988 Felix the Cat movie, and Peron was given to me by my drag mom, so when she invited me to be part of her drag family she gave me that name. She’s Argentinian - she’s Argenta Peron - and she’s named after Evita Peron, if you’re familiar with the Madonna movie. At the beginning of the movie she actually signs a document, and I use that signature on my merch. Not sure if anyone notices or if that’s just me and my autism, though. laughs It’s just a fun Easter egg.

Z: No, there are always folks out there who appreciate the deep lore! That’s why cons like this exist! So, who are some of your biggest influences blending drag and cosplay?

OP: Uh…. me? I know that sounds so haughty, but when I first started cosplaying 17 years ago I only did female characters. We called it crossplaying. About 10 years ago it bled into the drag, and I just married the two. At the time I wasn’t seeing other drag queens cosplaying on TV or Youtube, they weren’t going to cons… It was really just seeing myself in that position, mixing drag and cosplay, that inspired me to start creating shows of my own. We’ll be going to 9 in 2023, which I’m really proud of - it’s a lot of growth, and it’s exciting to be able to bring drag to these anime and pop conventions.

“When I first started cosplaying 17 years ago I only did female characters. We called it crossplaying. About 10 years ago it bled into the drag, and I just married the two.”

Z: It seems like there’s been an explosive growth in both anime and nerd culture and in drag - I mean, RuPaul’s Drag Race has pretty much taken over the world at this point. Do you think you’ve seen the impact of that in your own career?

OP: Yes, in both good and bad ways. The good part is that it gets drag in the mainstream and on people’s minds, and straight people are now interested in the culture and are making drag more accepted. You’ve got Jinx Monsoon on Broadway playing Mama Morton in Chicago, Nina West touring as the mom in hairspray, and it’s great to see someone other than a cis man in that role. We’re seeing drag become more accepted in places like the theater, which has never been as accepting as you would think. We’re also seeing a lot of the queens from Drag Race doing cosplay. Some of them were doing it before the show, but now they’re bringing it to the mainstream.

The pitfall is that there are 1000s of entertainers in small bars around the country where they’re not being paid very much. You’re looking at $50 for a booking, and you’re expected to do 4 numbers, do your makeup, build your costumes, you’ve got your wigs and mixes. You put all this work in, and then you get there and you get tipped… whatever. You walk away negative on your bank account. But the Ru girls, they get paid $1000s for gigs, and literally the only difference is that one of them was on TV. It’s all about luck and opportunity. There are great local artists who barely have enough to buy food, but venues will fly in the Ru girls and pay them $1000s.

It’s a tricky dichotomy. I know a lot of local venues have been working on it, but I just don’t know if there’s an easy fix for it. It’s just really tough on the economy that there’s a tier of performer who are making astronomical amounts of money, and no one else is getting a piece of that pie. And drag kings make even less than drag queens, so internalized misogyny is alive and well even in the gay community. A lot of folks think drag kings just wear flannel and no makeup, and it’s like, “no, they still need to move things and flatten things and tuck things and use makeup to make themselves look more masculine.” A lot of them create elaborate, ridiculous costumes, and some of the best acts that I’ve seen in my life have been from drag kings. I saw a drag king the other day who was dressed as a toilet, and they literally peed on someone else as part of their act. Fake pee! I don’t remember the song they used, but it was the perfect song to pee to.

As I’ve seen this happening, I’ve tried to make sure I pay equitably. I ask for a certain amount of money from the cons, and that’s split between the entertainers. I aim for at least $100 per show, but what’s really important is equity. I’ll ask the audience to make sure they’re tipping the drag kings as much as the drag queens. I’m not trying to make people feel bad, just to point out their inherent biases, and maybe ask themselves WHY they didn’t tip that drag king.

Z: You bring up some great points about intersectionality and equity! I hadn’t thought about it before, but I know tons of drag queens and only a couple of drag kings - Murray Hill? Maurice Mantini?

OP: Oh, Maurice Mantini is such a ding dong, I love him so much!

Z: I met him at Exxxotica and follow him on Instagram, he lights up my life.

OP: I’ll just think about a number he’s done and I’ll instantly start cackling. Every 5 seconds he’ll give you a little thumbs and and these excited little tappy feet, like he’s your drunk uncle making sure you know he’s ok at the family wedding. He’s great.

Z: On that topic, are there any particular acts that you’d like to shout out, or venues that you find to be particularly fair in their treatment of performers?

OP: White Rabbit Cabaret in Indianapolis is pretty equitable, they do tip splits and door splits. There’s no perfect way to do it, because sometimes an audience might be going out of their way to tip a minority entertainer, and a split actually takes some of that away from them… It’s tricky, you have a balance it. Our home bar in Bloomington is The Back Door - if you love zebra print and interesting depictions of unicorn anatomy, you can thank our owner for picking out such precious works of art.

Z: I should look up pictures!

OP: You should! There’s nothing normal about that bar. It’s just beautiful unicorn vaginas all over the bar. Some of them are black light. And the name is both a euphemism and directions, because the door is actually the back door of another building.

Z: That makes it sound like a quest to get in.

OP: It is a quest! Everybody loves a quest. And it’s a solid place, they’ve got a food truck now called the Munch Box, they’ve got great high food.

Z: If you don’t mind a political question -

OP: Not at all, go for it.

Z: So, shit’s obviously going a little crazy for a lot of people in a lot of places in this country - trans people, gay people, drag queens, people of color, women, basically anyone who doesn’t fit the mold. It does seem like there are some signs up hope, though, with some of those laws failing to pass or getting shot down by the courts. What is something that is giving you hope right now?

OP: Oh god. Hope?

I don’t know, I’m a millennial. What have we had, 4 recessions, a 20 year war, the rollback of Roe, Trump probably getting reelected. The world is on fire, we had a hurricane in California, there are whales in the Gulf of Mexico that aren’t supposed to be there… I’m in existential crisis about the state of the world. Just being a drag queen is hard, because as an artist you constantly have to fight to get work, to get paid, to get paid fairly. That’s why the writers and actors are striking, you know?

But I will say that I love my audiences. I always try to keep them accessible and all ages - not to groom anyone, because I beg you to name a drag queen who even likes a child - because they’re like beacons of light and hope. I love seeing how happy and excited people are when we’re on stage. We’re creating a safe and fun environment that’s welcoming to everyone. It’s an hour where they know they’re not going to be judged by anyone else. On the microphone, I talk opening about having autism, ADHD, major depressive disorder, being non-binary - I throw all that out there so that people know that, “hey, I’ve got these things too, we have them together, we’re all in a room hanging out,” and it helps people feel safe being who they are.

“I love seeing how happy and excited people are when we’re on stage. We’re creating a safe and fun environment that’s welcoming to everyone. It’s an hour where they know they’re not going to be judged by anyone else.”

It’s difficult to find hope right now, more difficult than it’s ever been, despite having more ways to communicate than ever. People mostly seem to use it to be mean and make rude comments to each other. But you can only control yourself, and if you walk away, that just seems to make them madder. I love giving a big thumbs up, like “great opinion!”

Z: Or blowing them a kiss!

OP: Oh gosh, that makes them furious, when you blow a little kiss. Ah, makes me so happy - that gives me hope!

Thank you so much to Anime Magic for making this interview possible, and Oriana Peron for being such a light within the community. Follow Oriana on Instagram at @OrianaPeron, and check out her website, OrianaPeron.com to see when she might be performing near you.