Trawl Gone, Not Cracked During COVID-19, Says Toronto Promoter

Call it the “perfect storm” of drag.

As Canadian clubs suffered COVID-19-related closures and then reopens with greatly reduced capacities, spaced seating, wearing of masks and other restrictions, drag shows were one of the few live acts still in operation.

At the same time, Canada’s Drag Race kicked off at CRAVE last summer (following in the footsteps of RuPaul’s Drag Race which premiered in 2009) pushing our country’s own drag stars, like season one winner Priyanka, into the stream. main in the midst of the success of the show as that of the station. highest rated original production in CRAVE history.

In other words, instead of bankruptcy time, it has been a boom time for Toronto drag promoter Alex Dooley, who has been booking shows across Canada since he established his business last July, including in Phoenix and Stackt Market. Toronto’s and Vancouver’s Hollywood Theater, to name three locations.

“(Drag) was in the mainstream, but I think it is even more so now, especially since season one of Canada’s Drag Race came out during the pandemic and season two of Canada’s Drag Race already came out this year,” said the Liverpool- Alex Dooley of Toronto-based Dooley Noted Productions.

“And it’s actually given us the opportunity to do drag shows with more local artists (because international artists weren’t traveling) in bigger venues because venues had less capacity and seats.”

Dooley says that during full club closings, drag queens and kings were also doing shows remotely online or via Instagram live “and it became part of people’s entertainment when they were at home during the pandemic. I think the drag community helped them overcome the pandemic. So when we reopened it was even more exciting because we got to see them in person. “

Lisa Zbitnew, who owns the 1,300-seat Phoenix, says drag shows have been a way to keep making money during the pandemic. (Last Friday, concert halls, seated or not, were cleared to return to 100% capacity in Ontario.)

“Drag was the first thing we brought back during the short time we were open in August and September 2020,” said Zbitnew. “We were only allowed to go to a capacity of 100 people. We had previously done a lot of drag shows. But programming to that number sat limited things that we could do as a music venue, but it worked pretty well with drag. “

For his part, Dooley says he can’t keep up with demand.

“I get calls every week from different places trying to get things to his place, but I can’t do everything,” said Dooley, who previously ran Toronto’s private members club Soho House, where he organized some drag-related events.

“In a way I saw a niche because I had done so many shows at Soho House that I felt this was the direction I should go. It was kind of lucky because (the bookers) were trying to find things that could fill the seats (at reduced capacity with spaced seats) and the drag just happened to be one of those things that fits perfectly. “

Current Dooley Noted Productions shows:

October 30 – Twisted with Scarlett Bobo, Pythia & BOA, Phoenix, Toronto (co-production with Pitbull Events)

October 31 – Halloween @Stackt (for the whole family), 12-6 pm, Stackt Market, Toronto

November 4 – Canada Drag Race Viewing Party with Synthia Kiss, Beth, Kiara, Phoenix, Toronto

November 11 – Drag Race Canada Viewing Party with Gia Metric and Priyanka, Phoenix, Toronto