Dixie Longate takes her pandemic experience to the big stage
RICH LOPEZ | Staff writer
rich@dallasvoice.com
Dixie Longate is truly a North Texas drag icon. She first found her show-biz niche selling Tupperware while in drag and went on to become the highest-selling Tupperware lady in North America.
But like all of us, Longate had a pandemic to get through. Masks, vaccines, quarantines — none of those things were in any original plan. But being a performer, Longate turned her problems into the premiere of Cherry Bombs and Bottle Rockets, which plays for one-night only at Bass Hall.
Cherry Bombs and Bottle Rockets plays at 7:30 p.m. April 2 at Bass Hall. For more information or tickets, visit BassHall.com.
Longate (nee Kris Anderson) sat down with Dallas Voice to discuss pulling material together for the show and deciding whether it’s been a cathartic experience or not.
Dallas Voice: Congratulations on the new show. From the sounds of it, the pandemic gave you a wealth of material to pull from. When did you know you had a show on your hands? Dixie Longate: When you live in the South, you have so much craziness going on around you during ordinary times. Then one day I just looked around my trailer and saw 50 empty booze bottles gathered on the floor, my son playing with a wild raccoon, my daughter not paying attention to her Zoom class because she was making “artwork” out of a couple of tampons and myself all out of chloroform to keep everyone quiet. And I realized, I got lots of new stories to talk about.
Clearly you know how to be productive. How were you handling the pandemic — particularly during the highest moments of it — prior to conceiving this show? Booze. Mostly booze. I learned all sorts of new cocktail recipes.
Despite the kiddos, was it hard to not have company or see your friends? It was fun to not see people that bothered me and to be able to blame that on the six-foot rule. That was definitely a high point. I tried to use the time wisely to cross stitch some samplers for the front entryway with meaningful sayings like, “Everything’s a dildo if you are brave enough,” and “Everyone is welcome, provided you are bringing vodka and carrying cash.”
Those would do well on Etsy. Did the pandemic offer you any lessons as a performer? OK, I have to say that it made me miss people. There is no substitute for seeing the smiling faces and hearing the laughter from a real, live audience, just as there is no substitute for butter no matter what your grandma puts on the table at Thanksgiving. It also made me realize that most people are so down on themselves.
There is something to be said about the effect it had on everyone’s mental health. Being tucked away for a few years made me see how much value other people have, but they don’t give themselves their fair credit. When I tell these new stories in the show, that’s definitely going to be a focus of mine.
Here we are now. Vaccinations have got us a bit on track to some kind of normal. Obviously, theater is back, which provides you with the opportunity to share your experience. How does that feel as someone who has a loyal following of fans who love to interact with Dixie? I have spent the last two years doing a ton of live videos and connecting with people through social media, so if y’all follow me, then you have seen some of what’s been going on. But I haven’t even scratched the surface. I’ve got plenty of things to share. But knowing that I can finally see the faces of the people I’m talking to rather than just replying to comments makes me feel all tingly in my no-no place.
Was there the thought that you’re creating a show with no guarantee when it could open because of potential variants leading to mandates? For a while I was really scared that theaters might be shut down forever. In fact, we did lose a lot of theaters and many theater professionals during this time. But I just figured I’ll keep writing down these stories that were happening because someday, even if I had to roll my camper into the middle of town and stand up on the edge of a dumpster, I was going to share these stories with folks.
I was surprised to read this was your first ever stand-up show. I have done several other theatrical shows, a couple of them right there in Fort Worth. I have brought my original show, Dixie’s Tupperware Party, to Bass Hall several times, as well as the follow up show, Never Wear a Tube Top While Riding a Mechanical Bull (and 16 other things I learned while I was drinking last Thursday), to the McDavid studio theater.
This show will not only be my first stand up/storytelling show where I just get up and share stories without the aid of some bowls or a bull, but it will also be my first time doing a show in the big theater at Bass Hall.
I have never done a one-night show before. I usually come roaring into town and sit in a theater doing a few shows a week for a couple of weeks in a row. This time it’s going to be just like amazing sex that you never forget — in and out and gone!
Would you say creating this show was cathartic for you? I don’t know if I will be able to answer that question until I am standing on stage for the first time in Fort Worth. I do what I do. I just keep telling stories and laughing at the way the world presents itself to me, and hopefully I don’t get too pissed off at the far-too-many stupid people in this world. In this case, I don’t know how people will react to what I’m sharing until I’m standing on stage and listening to the reaction.
Since the pandemic has kept me off-stage for a while, y’all will literally be the first people ever to hear most of what I’ll be saying. If y’all like it, I’ll be grinning from ear to ear. If’n you don’t, I’ll have a big bottle of open vodka on the side of the stage to start drinking immediately after the show.
That’s about as cathartic as you can get.
How did creating Cherry Bombs and Bottle Rockets compare to other work you’ve done? I have never seen so much struggle and frustration as I have over these past two years. Normally, I sit down and write things based on what I want to say. In this case, I wrote things based on what I think people need to hear. We are all a little more battle-worn and hardened since I was there last time.
My goal is to not only make you laugh while you’re with me, but also to remind you that you can take off the armor that you are wearing and let a little bit of the sunshine fall onto your face.
We all want the same things in this life. We all just need to be reminded sometimes that we are allowed to go for them.