Dorothy and the Dolls, a local group of nine drag performers who often take over The Bottleneck, are holding spaces and performances across the Lawrence drag scene to foster a new generation of avant-garde performers.
According to founding member Lambyyy Boots, the goth Bratz doll drag queen persona of Liam Housworth, the group formed three years ago because they all were frequently booked at venues like Replay Lounge and Jazzhaus.
Lambyyy said they saw a banter form between everyone and found that the group had the same outlook on drag.
“Lawrence is so creative and artistic, and it’s very underground and punky and thrashy, that we wanted to make sure that there was platforms for those kinds of performers,” Lambyyy said. “So, Dorothy and the Dolls, collectively, we just want to make sure that, please, just whatever you’re feeling and whatever you’re doing, just go out there and do it.”
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Now, she said, the group is expanding its efforts to draw eyes to every type of performer and encouraging performers with alternative drag styles to join the scene through a variety of events around town.
A demon on stage, a teacher behind the curtain
Johnny Diablo, the interdimensional, demonic drag king identity of 26-year-old Mattie Karlin, has taught an introductory drag course with the Lawrence Arts Center for the last year.
Diablo said the course is at least five class sessions to give new performers the tools to continue performing and defining their characters long after the course ends.
He said class starts with a historical breakdown of the roots of the art, and building respect for the African American and Ballroom cultures that led to modern drag.
Ballroom grew prominent in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood in the mid-1900s, as many Black and Brown queer and trans people who faced racism in other pageants started holding underground balls, or competitions, as safe spaces for expression. People competed in fashion, dancing, modeling and more while in houses, which are groups that form strong familial bonds.
Chay D. Boots, the pink princess character of Jarron Lewis, is a founding member of Dorothy and the Dolls. She taught Vogueing 101 at the arts center in 2024.
Vogueing, a highly stylized and improvisational form of dance, emerged from the Ballroom scene. She said students should know where their influences come from.
“I think that drag has co-opted and benefited from a lot of trans culture, trans activism, trans rage, trans joy, trans love,” Chay D. said. “What it really was is Black trans women carving out a space for themselves because they weren’t allowed anywhere else.”
Following the history lesson, Diablo has students hone in on three aspects of drag that interest them, such as costuming, singing, dancing, comedy, aerial work or puppetry. He guides and gives feedback to students as they build their drag personas and holds practice performances in class.
Video game programmer Jade Rosalie, student of the spring 2026 session, said she had been wanting to do drag for the past six years but found herself limited by chronic health issues. After a near complete recovery, Rosalie saw the class offered by Diablo and jumped at the chance to join.
Now, as Hellkitty, Rosalie is defining a demon programmer character. She’s building on a hacker girl aesthetic, themed around technology, green text and mechanical movements.
Rosalie said her character has been influenced by her chronic illness.
“It got me thinking a lot about accessibility and performing spheres, and it got me thinking about my options if I can’t move a whole lot,” Rosalie said. “And that helped me with love for myself and my body and discovering all the things that I could do even when it didn’t necessarily look like somebody else.”
Local performer and comedic lifestyle content creator Jaelyn Ray is already known as Jaelaray on the Lawrence scene. She was hungry for similar experiences after completing the arts center’s burlesque class, and she found her way to Diablo’s course.
Now, as Lillith, she’s influenced by local acts Abra Cadaver and Jeni Tonic. Lillith eats men for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and has an aesthetic that blends fun, preppy and bouncy with guts and gore.
Ray said she can always bounce new ideas off of Diablo.
“It never feels like we’re being judged harshly in this space,” Ray said. “It feels like there’s someone that knows the baton will be passed and they’re very proud to be raising the people they’re going to pass it on to.”
At the end of the class, Diablo offers students an opportunity to perform in front of a crowd.
Students in the spring class will have the chance to perform at the show “Diablo’s Inferno: Rococo.” Doors open at 8 p.m. and the show begins at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, May 20 at The Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire St.
New sparkle and stakes on stage
Diablo said he sees drag as a social art for queer people.
“Oftentimes, it’s like a representation of their most authentic self that they can’t always feel safe to be in day-to-day life,” Diablo said. “When I created my character, I gave him all these traits that I felt like I really wanted, but I never had the chance to develop, just like his confidence and audacity and proudness.”
Both Lambyyy and Chay D. shared similar sentiments. Lambyyy got started when she approached Chay D. with no experience, but the latter queen still offered her an open spot at a show.
Lambyyy said that she wants to offer a new generation of performers the same chance.
The group hosts open shows called “The Hole” once a month at The Bottleneck, where new performers can hop on stage. They also have started hosting drag competitions, like this year’s “The Nerve” and their upcoming show “GAPE” on June 24 at The Bottleneck.
Joella De Vil, 23, is the alternative, horror-styled drag persona of Jojo Rose. She’s attended “The Hole” twice following her first performance at the Lawrence Art Center’s Arts After Dark Adult Showcase in November after completing Diablo’s class.
Before enrolling, Rose said she was anxious to approach people in the drag community. But the showcase built up her confidence and soothed anxieties that she’s had in her life since transitioning.
“My grandma came to that performance, and part one of the audio bits in that performance was about me being transgender,” she said. “I still don’t think my grandma completely picked up on the fact that I was transgender, but I was coming out to her in my own way and she was there.”
She has gone on to perform in four more shows so far since the showcase.
Chay D. said she has loved seeing the stakes raised on the scenes with new drag performers.
“You’re seeing different things on stage that you’ve never seen before because people want to bring that,” Chay D. said. “They’re bored of what they see, so they want to bring something different. They don’t see themselves on stage, so that’s why they get on stage.”
Chay D. said that above all, she wants to ensure vulnerable people in her community are protected and have a voice.
“I am the mother of the Haus of Boots, which is a drag house, but also in the Ballroom sense, what that means is being able to really, truly make queer people, who don’t feel like they have people to support them, feel supported,” Chay D. said.
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Logan Pierson (he/him) worked as a reporting intern with The Lawrence Times from December 2025 through May 2026 while he was a senior journalism and photography student at the University of Kansas. He previously contributed to the University Daily Kansan as a senior reporter and beat reporter.
Read his work for the Times here.
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