Inside Michigan's First Asian American Drag Night: See the Photos!

Rising Voices event showcases local AAPI performers and creates space for cultural celebration

Published: November 13, 2025 | Last Updated: November 13, 2025

Zainab "The Rose" Diva had been performing drag for only a few months when she took the stage at Uplift, an LGBTQ+ bar in Ann Arbor, in June. As a Pakistani trans woman and Muslim, she'd spent years searching for spaces where all of who she is could exist at once — her faith, her heritage, her gender, her art.

That night, she found it.

Four drag queens, one drag king and a host took the stage for what the show’s host, Rising Voices, an organizing and engagement organization that does intersectional work focused on the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, believes was Michigan's first all-Asian American drag night. The performance featured Chinese traditional dance, Vietnamese music and classic Cantonese pop songs woven into acts of drag artistry. For the diverse, multigenerational audience, seeing themselves reflected onstage was often a first.

"As a trans person who is Pakistani and Muslim, I struggle to find representation or belonging anywhere," Zainab said. "I feel rejection from my ethnic spaces and religious spaces at times for being queer. Drag spaces at least will always have a political aspect to represent marginalized communities, so I always feel at least safe in them."

The idea to put together a drag show featuring local AAPI performers had been percolating since 2023, born from a conversation between Henry Duong, Rising Voices' organizing director, and a long-time volunteer. The vision: an all-Asian cast drag night in a state where Asian American drag performers rarely get spotlighted.

Photos: Nomadic Madam

When Uplift launched its drag program, the timing felt right. Kristine Patnugot helped bring it to life as part of the organization's most ambitious Pride programming yet. Rising Voices' cultural strategist, Patnugot is also a filmmaker who created VH1's 2010 reality series "TRANSform Me," which starred Laverne Cox, and was deeply involved with the New York drag and trans community. The month-long celebration included a solidarity march with Detroit Action and a panel on family and kinship.

One performer traveled two-and-a-half hours from Grand Rapids and stayed overnight with a friend just to be part of the show. Another made her drag debut that evening. Performers agreed to learn second numbers with just two weeks notice.

"The spirit of everyone coming together to put this on was incredible," Duong said. "It helps us as organizers to know there is a need for this and there's a want in our community."

While national platforms like "RuPaul's Drag Race" have featured Asian American performers including Anetra, Nymphia Wind and Plastique Tiara, local visibility remains rare. Rising Voices created this event specifically to showcase Michigan AAPI talent.

QingYu Zhong, who performs as Oliver Woodstock, brought drag king energy to the lineup. Known for live instrumentals incorporating jazz and acrobatic moves in numbers in musicals ranging from “Mulan” to “SpongeBob,” he holds multiple Pride titles and made history in 2021-2022 as the first AFAB nonbinary performer to win a first drag king and the first out non-binary individual to win the National Showman contest.

Oliver Woodstock. Photo: TiosPhotography.com

"I participated in this event because it was the very first AAPI drag show in Michigan," Woodstock said. "During a period of such concern and fear for those who experience great intersectionality, it is a privilege to stand with our community and become a display of courage and a performative act of pushback."

For Jucy Liu Voutin, the night offered a chance to move beyond Halloween costumes. What started as a Lucy Liu pun evolved into something deeper: a way to explore cultural and gender expression. Out of drag, Liu Voutin presents masculine. In drag, she says she’s "a luxurious spectacle, radiating feminine energy."

"I thought it was extra special to be part of an event that highlighted AAPI performers, especially as intersectional LGBTQ+ and AAPI perspectives are underrepresented," Liu Voutin said.

Zainab, a singer-songwriter who brings emotional, lyrical performances to the stage, started drag as a way to express her authentic self as a trans woman and potentially build a music career. "I wanted to express my true self as a trans woman, so my persona is very much realness, soft and feminine but not in an exaggerated way," she said.

Like most drag performers in Michigan, participants in the all-Asian American drag show do this work part time — the glamour comes with harsh realities. Patnugot highlighted the significant pay disparity between Michigan and major markets like New York City. In Michigan, most performers maintain full-time jobs to support their art, investing substantially in wardrobes, makeup and practice time.

Another challenge reflects the current sociopolitical era. With more than 600 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in 2024 nationwide, drag has become urgent resistance for many performers. The policing of gender expression makes events like this not just entertainment, but political acts.

"Drag is political, and it's important that my drag is part of resisting the oppression of LGBTQ+ and AAPI communities which we are facing," Liu Voutin said. "More Asian representation in drag challenges the 'model minority' stereotype that LGBTQ+ AAPI folks will quietly conform to the status quo. We will not stand for it and we will not be erased."

Woodstock emphasized how local representation affects the national scene. Despite being part of national pageantry, he noted the limited number of AAPI performers at that level.

"The AAPI community is one of the least represented populations in the drag/burlesque community," he said. "The more visibility there is for this community, the more people will be able to show up for themselves and live their most authentic life."

Patnugot pointed to cultural context often overlooked. Many Asian cultures historically include concepts of a "third gender" or nonbinary expression, making drag a continuation of cultural traditions rather than a Western import.

Caitlin Shimoura Goedert, Rising Voices' digital organizer, noted the audience spanned generations and backgrounds — college students to community elders, across racial lines. "Whether they were white or AAPI or Black, this sort of representation really resonated with them, especially [during] a year like this where there's so many anti-LGBTQ bills happening," she said.

The celebration came with real security concerns. The previous year, Rising Voices' event at Freer House at Wayne State University faced a threat the day before. The team decided to proceed — "everybody said they wanted to, so we did," Patnugot said — and it went well.

This year, security was a priority. Uplift's existing security team and safety protocols allowed performers and audience members to focus on celebration rather than potential threats.

For Woodstock, the night offered something rare: complete safety in visibility.

"Being surrounded by my people, I had never felt so safe and seen," he said. "It felt like coming home and I want the rest of my community to feel how I did."

Zainab echoed that sense of belonging, connecting her years of Asian American activism to finding validity in drag. "I know in my heart Allah made me queer and trans, and I was given gifts to use in drag and artistry to fight for change," she said. "Support your communities because all we have is love and each other."