This is Tongass Voices, a series from KTOO sharing weekly perspectives from the homelands of the Áak’w Kwáan and beyond.
One of Juneau’s favorite drag kings, Tyquan, is known for Prince tributes, sci-fi-themed acts, and big platform boots.
T McInnis — the person behind Tyquan — gave KTOO a tour of the Juneau Drag closet for this week’s Tongass Voices and told their drag origin story.
Listen:
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
I’m T McInnis, and my drag name is Tyquan. So, I decided to do drag for Halloween one year. And I dressed up as the Weeknd. And that was like, seven years ago, and it just stuck. I had been already making costumes before that, so I was like I think I can do this.
It was like the year Gigi Monroe held a GLITZ and brought in Landon Cider who’s like the drag king of all drag kings. And from that moment, when I saw Pitbull come out on that stage, I was like — I didn’t know that kings were performing drag at that level until I was exposed to that. And that’s what kind of inspired me to start performing in drag.
Most places, just book queens. We don’t really have so much of that problem here because a majority of the performers here are actually kings. And Gigi Monroe, who runs the Juneau drag family, always keeps space for kings and celebrates kings. So we’re a little bit different in our drag community than other places. But yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m the only black drag king in Alaska.
So most of my drag, I make all my stuff. These were like a mannequin. And I had to cut them out. And then we painted them and added the silver paint and the rhinestones. It was actually designed after Dr. Funkenstein, who was a character from the P-Funk era. So that was designed after that. So I wanted to have the visual of emerging from a spacecraft and like bringing the funk to Earth.
I’ve been sewing since I was eight. I was homeschooled. So my mom taught me how to sew. And my friends would ask me to make clothes and stuff like that. And then after a while, I started doing it professionally.
When people see me sew I’m like “See, you just do this, and then just reverse and go around the corner. Like, you try.” And they’re like, “Ah!”
I think for GLITZ week, we were chomping at the last minute. And there was an idea that came up with costumes, and it was maybe the night before the show. So it was like, “Hey, can you go pick the fabric up at Jo-Ann’s and like whip those up for us?” And like, “Yeah, sure.” So I came up with a pattern, cut everything out and then realized, like I cut it out wrong. Then I had a little moment to cry. And then I sewed the piece back on and put it together, and no one ever knew.
After I performed a number, I hear my name being called back out to the stage. So they bring myself and my husband out on the stage to introduce him to Juneau and to the drag family, in the middle of a show, a drag show at the Red Dog Saloon. I was dressed as Prince — made it even more hilarious. That was a surprise. I was backstage like ripping my stuff off. Like, “I’m done with this wig.” They’re like, “Come back out.” So that was really welcoming — and really nice — from the drag family.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled Tyquan’s name.
