These are the nights open for all at the Back Door. From singers and burlesque dancers to comedians and genderqueer performers, Wednesdays’ Open Stage Night might be something different each week.
But long before the first act begins at 11 p.m., the night is much quieter.
In a dark dressing room sits the event’s host, Argenta Perón, preparing for the night’s festivities with a palette of foundations, eye shadows and a pair of eyelashes.
Although she started her work as a drag queen 10 years ago in Iowa City, Iowa, she now performs in Bloomington and spends Wednesday nights introducing each act that takes the Back Door stage.
“I get to be a different person,” she said. “I get to be able to be something else for however long, and that’s just easier sometimes. There is so much bullshit you have to deal with out in the world from being LGBT, so doing this is fun. You get to be whatever it is the fuck you want to be, and people don’t make fun of you for it.”
As for Bloomington, Perón said the city is mostly accepting of drag culture, but there are still plenty of misconceptions about the sort of acts Open Stage Night presents.
Because performances like burlesque and genderqueer are not as widely known as other art forms, she said outsiders sometimes judge what is unfamiliar in their daily life.
“Ultimately, no place is going to be 100 percent accepting, and there’s still a lot of people who don’t understand, even within the (gay) community itself,” Perón said. “They just assume that because we’re supposed to be feminine as gay men, we do it because we want to be a woman and that’s just a misconception — that overfeminization, even within our own community, is frowned on. No one wants to be the stereotype, and I say fuck it. I’ll be a fucking stereotype if I want to.”
Celebrating the talents of performers and educating the public about their art is exactly what Open Stage Night tries to accomplish, she said. It gives those interested a place to try out a new art form, whatever that might be, and an audience who supports that art.
The rules of Wednesdays are simple, according to her dressing room’s sign: Clean up after yourself, refrain from using glitter or fire in an act and be accepting of the other entertainers.
In the end, Wednesdays are for anyone who wants to try something new, Perón said, just like when she first tried drag 10 years ago.
“That’s the whole point of it, to try it out,” Perón said. “Just do it. What’s the worst that’s going to happen? You fail? At the end of the day you only fail when you think you fail. Every five minutes someone’s like, ‘I’ve always wanted to try drag.’ Great. Try it. Buy your own makeup, though.”
