The fourth annual High Princx pageant, a polymorphous drag extravaganza so grand it takes two nights, will take over Oasis on January 18 and 25. In a bit of allegorical fabulousness, this year's dates straddle a presidential inauguration while thrusting San Francisco queer values into the spotlight.
Established in 2022 by Tito Soto, Oasis' event producer and the founder of Princess, the club's enormously popular Saturday night show, the pageant is as much a celebration as a competition.
"When I started doing drag myself," said Soto in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter, "I was doing something which was unique at that point, forging my own path with a male-presenting drag persona."
Soto, who has cited KISS, Freddie Mercury, and Elton John as early inspirations, first made his mark in Los Angeles' Silverlake and Downtown scenes (After studying architecture at Cornell University he moved to LA, where he worked as a theme park designer).
But after coming to San Francisco gigs in the late 2010s, he felt an instant chemistry with the city's wildly expressive genderqueer drag scene.
"It kind of blew my mind," said Soto, who ultimately moved here post-pandemic and came aboard full-time at Oasis, "San Francisco is where I needed to be to flourish."
The High Princx Pageant further exalts the weekly Princess parties' commitment to full-spectrum queerness and diversity within diversity.
None of the three winners to date — Tyson Check-In, Kai Kai Bee Michaels, and Sassi Fran — have conformed to old school "man dressed as a woman" drag queen conventions.
That's by coincidence, said Soto. But it speaks to the range of participants who are welcome under the High Princx tent.
The rules of en-gag-ment
Only seasoned Bay Area performers with a minimum of five years' drag are invited to participate in the pageant. The 2025 contestants are Delilah Befierce, Jeté Guevara, Jota Mercury, Mary Vice, Mojo Carter, Pangaea, Sadie Creekwood, and Vicki Cristina Barcelona.
As in years past, they will face off in four categories:
Creative Presentation, a Met Gala-esque runway show in which participants each offer their own take on a pre-announced theme (This year's is High Camp);
Q & A, in which queries can range from silly to serious;
Lip Sync Battles, with competitor pairings and song selection;
Talent Presentation, in which each contestant and a retinue of back-up performer deliver a blow-out production number of their own devising, complete with video, props, and special effects as they see fit.
The first three events will be held on Saturday, Jan. 18, with the Talent Presentation and award ceremony following a week later.
This year, for the second time, audience members will vote for the winner of a "Fan Favorite Award," entering their choices when they purchase tickets online with a promo code.
Getting judgy
Snaxx, another member of the Oasis team, and a past competitor in other drag pageants, as well as performing in multiple 'Rocky Horror Show's, is part of this year's High Princx judging panel. She told the Bay Area Reporter that the first night's opening competitions reveal a lot about contestants' character and skills:
"The Creative Presentation is interesting because you get to learn about the contestant's personal perspective on things. Everyone is working from the same overarching theme, so you get a sense of how their minds work in interpreting it.
"Some people think of Q&A as a throwaway at pageants, but it's something I love watching and listening to, because there's no real way to prepare for it. It reveals a lot about who you are. Being an experienced performer who knows how to use a microphone, is comfortable on stage, and can speak well off the top of your head isn't something you can manufacture. You can't throw money at it like you can for a look. It's not about having better collaborators."
Regarding the final Talent Presentations, Snaxx tipped her hat to Soto.
"Tito inspires other drag performers to take a dream that they can't imagine turning into reality and just going for it. He makes you want to do your best job, take advantage of all the technology we have available at Oasis, make your most authentic art and do something incredible that people are going to remember.
"I think that ultimately, putting together that presentation for the pageant is more about winning a battle within yourself than beating anybody else. And the bar is set really high."
A winning perspective
The 2023 High Princx winner, Kai Kai Bee Michaels, who describes herself as AFAB (assigned female at birth) acknowledges that the attention she garnered from the pageant led to increases in her bookings and fees, but that the event's most important aspects are rooted in community more than competition.
"If you're a part of this little world," she said, "You pretty much know all of the other performers. I feel a little sad if someone in the drag community is too focused on winning a pageant. Look, the ego is there. But when I see all the work people put into their numbers, I relate to them all.
"I see people who I look up to put their all into it, last year I got to watch Raya Light compete, and she's a legend to me. And then I have those proud Mama Bear feelings watching people I knew as babies. We live in this hyper-individualistic society, and I think our drag community is a wonderful microcosm of what collaborative community care can look like."
The High Princx Pageant 2025, Jan. 18 and 25. 10pm. $23-$56. Oasis. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com
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