Sasha Colby will bring her Stripped II tour to Columbus Tuesday. Credit: Courtesy of Preston Menese
Season 15 winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race and Miss Continental 2012, Sasha Kekauoha — best-known by her drag name, Sasha Colby — will stop at the Southern Theatre in downtown Columbus Tuesday at 8 p.m. as part of her Stripped II tour.
Following the success of the first leg of the Stripped tour, the drag queen has taken center stage again, expanding to 30 cities as opposed to the first leg’s 22. Colby said for this tour, she’s shifted the show’s content, drifting away from the original, more personal performance and moving towards a more creative interpretation of relatable narratives.
“I wanted to make it more not just about my stories, but touching universal stories — different stories that everyone can relate to or find some sort of similarities in their lives with, but we are definitely not as literal in storytelling as we were in the first one,” Colby said. “We’re taking in a lot of creative liberties. Every number is like a different world, different energy, different element, we’re playing a lot with, you know, the different elements of the earth and fire, water, air and just making it very magical.”
Colby said with the current state of the world, she wishes to create a space for people to relax and enjoy themselves amid the chaos.
“I feel like my sort of protest and my way of putting whatever I put out there is, at least not adding to the negative noise, but allowing people to escape for a bit and find some joy in the midst of our working hard and protesting for our humanity,” Colby said.
Colby’s tour will also feature a local drag artist performer. Interested participants had to submit a video tape displaying their drag skills, which Colby said she then went through and hand-selected for her show. She said there were a number of characteristics she was looking for when reviewing submissions.
“I want to see commitment to your number and your craft, and to see your artistry and how you connect with it,” Colby said. “I want to see your storytelling, even as a dancer, you know, being able to not just do all throwaway moves. Just do choreography, but do it intentionally and have a meaning. That always stands out to me.”
Those attributes must align with local drag queen Maya Bizness, who previously opened with other local artists for Chappell Roan — queer pop superstar and drag daughter of Colby — in June 2024 at KEMBA Live! and has now secured the spot for Colby’s Columbus date.
“I’m genuinely humbled and honored to have been selected,” Bizness said in an Instagram DM. “I know so many of my amazing sisters that submitted, and I was genuinely excited for any one of them to have been selected, due to the fact that I hadn’t heard back.”
Bizness said she’s looking forward to performing alongside Colby and bringing her drag to a larger audience.
“I’ve been lucky enough to open and host openings for [Roan] and [drag performer] Alyssa Edwards,” Bizness said. “It’s nice to be able to take the silly and pretty drag that I love to do and present it on a larger stage/platform for friends, family and new friends in the crowd.”
Colby will not have the queens open for her as typical performances go. Instead, Colby said the selected artist will perform mid-show while she steps aside to change and watch the performance. Colby said her reasoning behind including a smaller artist in this manner is because she wants to give back the same opportunities she was granted at that point in her career.
“I feel like I wanted to [feature local drag artists] … honestly just because it was done to me, it was given to me,” Colby said. “A lot of opportunities to work in really special places with some of the people that I looked up to, and it gave me so much confidence and wanting to be better and do my best, so I wanted to give back in that same way and also, I want to see fun drag, you know?”
After her historic win on Drag Race — she’s the first ever trans woman of color and first native Hawaiian contestant and winner in the show’s 16-year-run — Colby was thrust into the limelight, opening the door to a new level of opportunities for the artist.
“I wake up wondering, ‘What am I gonna do next?” Colby said. “And it’s always really cool.”
Now with an elevated platform to spread her art, Colby has also been granted the platform to be the voice for marginalized communities and serve as a role model for those who may feel unseen or underrepresented in media.
“I’ve always relied on my storytelling as the basis of my art and that’s a lot to do with where I’m from, my culture, my queer family and my chosen family,” Colby said. “All of those things that I speak about and end up really getting to uplift. I also get to pave a little way for, you know, some queer kid in Hawaii who’s just in the country like I was, thinking and dreaming. Seeing someone like me that they can relate to allows them to dream more.”
As a prominent activist force in the LGBTQ+ community and model among young, queer-identifying or questioning individuals, Colby said it’s important for others to listen to themselves and tune out the external voices telling them who they should or shouldn’t be.
“I always encourage people to kind of silence the noise, even the doubt in your head — all the things that are telling you or giving you anxiety — and really just think about what you want as a person, how you want to go through life [and] how you want to feel comfortable,” Colby said. “For me, that’s what it was about. I felt so uncomfortable in my skin during my adolescence and just knowing that I felt different, and being able to see trans representation. It wasn’t all over the place when I was growing up, so when I finally found some trans representation, I knew that that could be something that I could do. It was a lot easier for me to really step into the way that I can feel comfortable going through life.”
Colby said she’s excited to be bringing the Stripped tour to stage for the Columbus community to see.
“I can’t wait to go to Columbus,” Colby said. “This will be the first time I get to bring my show there, so I’m really excited to see the turnout. We’re going to have a great old time. Stripped II, here we go!”
The event is for ages 18 and up. Ticket prices range from $48.80 to $74 are available to purchase online at CAPA’s ticket center. Guests are also able to purchase “The Mother VIP Package,” which is an additional $94.80 on top of the ticket fee and includes admission to a pre-show meet and greet, at this link.
