Chrome Snatchica has been doing drag for as long as she can remember. When she was a kid, that meant wearing her favorite Snow White dress as often as she could, no matter how many popsicle stains it collected over the years.
Now, Chrome Snatchica performs in drag regularly through True Colors, a recurring drag show created for and by drag artists with disabilities (Editor’s note: The performers asked to be identified with their performance names).
“I’ve been dressing up ever since I was a little kid, and I just fell in love with it,” said Chrome Snatchica, who started formally performing in drag while attending college in 2020. “Once I found True Colors, I was like, ‘This is the perfect place for me to join these incredible performers and really incredible people. I found my place.’ I’m one of the only drag artists in the Chicago area that’s deaf, and I wanted to join a group that was more inclusive and diverse.”
The next True Colors Drag Show will be at 7 p.m. March 29, at Sketchbook Brewing Company, 821 Chicago Ave., in Evanston. The show will include performances from artists with Down syndrome and those who experience deafness, as well as people with intellectual, physical and developmental disabilities.
True Colors offers an opportunity for artists with disabilities to design their own drag show and grow as performers together, demonstrating drag can be a powerful, artistic experience for everyone, its organizers said.
“We all have tough times in life, but we want to show, as artists and people, that we are strong no matter what,” explained drag artist ZiZi D-Lite. “Being in drag has changed my life because I love wearing the costume, and I love seeing people happy seeing me performing and singing. It’s a really beautiful thing.”
True Colors was founded last year by Karen Forester and drag artist Chrysanthemum. Forester learned about Chrysanthemum’s love for drag while working as her personal caregiver, so the pair decided to launch their own show and began recruiting other performers to become True Colors Royalty.
Since the first True Colors show, the audiences have transformed from just a few loved ones to packed crowds of supporters cheering the royals on. The upcoming show this weekend will be True Colors’s third performance.
“My favorite part of doing drag is seeing the amount of love and support we get for this group,” Chrysanthemum said. “I just really love the idea of exploring our true colors and showing what that means to the world.”
True Colors is designed to be a space that not only includes drag artists with disabilities but celebrates and highlights their experiences as well. For example, while practicing for one of the recent shows, drag king George David decided he wanted to use sign language for his entire performance.
“As a hearing-impaired performer, I decided, ‘Okay, let’s take the hearing aids out,’ so when I’m in drag, I’m signing the entire time and that’s what makes it fun for me,” he said. “My favorite part of drag is the performing aspect and the storytelling, to me, that’s the most fun.”
Although many of the True Colors artists had performed in drag prior to joining the show, they each said that being a part of the group has helped them to grow as artists and feel more confident in their day-to-day lives as well.
George David explained how he wore khakis and a polo shirt for an early performance but took to the stage at the most recent show wearing a plaid suit jacket and bedazzled dress pants.
“It really feels like I’ve been able to see George David blossoming, because he did start with this subdued look and last time it was so rock n roll,” Forester said. “You can tell that he’s feeling himself, and so is everyone else, and that’s a wonderful thing. This is just such a big confidence booster, and that’s just one of the many benefits.”
Chrome Snatchica advised anyone who feels nervous about doing drag to just take the first step and start, because she’s always found performing to be a positive, inspiring experience.
“For people who are put in a box, and aren’t received by the mainstream society, just never give up,” she said. “Try your best. Put yourself out there and be an inspiration for others who may not feel as confident. I’ve been trying to be more myself, and it’s definitely hard in the current climate right now, but you just have to keep going.”
True Colors Drag Show. Photos by Joseph Sevens
