Nightspots Magazine: Hi, Pandora. When did you first start doing drag?
Pandora Boxx: I started doing drag when I was nineteen. I realized I was gay and started doing drag a couple of months later. I really don't know what its like to not be a drag queen and gay.
NM: Your sense of humor is really special. Would you ever do stand up?
PB: I have thought about it. It scares me a little though. I have wanted to get together a one-woman show. I wrote a play called The Lipstick Massacre that we are doing in Rochester starting May 27. After that, then maybe a one-woman show that will be kind of like stand-up but a little bit different.
NM: Do you have a theater background?
PB: Yeah, in high school I did all the plays and was in the drama club. I did go to Nazreth College in Rochester for theater for a little while. I didn't graduate. I was working in bars and clubs doing drag so it was hard to commit to going to school when I was all caught up in that world. I then went back to school to get my Bachelor's in communications and journalism.
NM: What made you audition for RuPaul's Drag Race?
PB: I auditioned for the first season and did not make it on. It is the biggest platform that you can do in drag, because RuPaul's name was attached to it. Then it seemed like a fun idea to be on TV. When it was a hit it was really about how to further my drag career and this is probably the best way to do it.
NM: You were about to give up drag completely before you made it, correct?
PB: Yeah, last year I was at the point where I thought it was not going to go anywhere. I wanted something to change otherwise I was going to quit. And it did. It changed in the most major way that it possibly could.
NM: Was RuPaul's Drag Race kind of like opening up a Pandora's box itself? Is there good with the bad?
PB: Yes, mostly it is good. But it does open you up to be treated like you are not a person but a character. Some of the things people say can really brutal. I have gotten a few things but my fellow contestants have really been brutalized online. The good outweighs the bad, at least from what I have seen so far.
NM: You were hilarious on The Snatch Game episode as Carol Channing. What other celebrities can you impersonate?
PB: I do a lot of different ones. I do Madonna and Britney Spears. I do regular Britney Spears and then I do Britney when she went crazy, which is more fun. I do Janis Joplin, Dolly Parton and Cyndi Lauper. Lots of different characters--it just depends on the show. I work at a club in Rochester so we get a lot of younger kids so I can't really do Janis Joplin and know who she is. They don't know anything that happened before 2006 so I have to gauge the audience.
NM: Speaking of audiences, you are going to be appearing at Berlin in Chicago.
PB: I am, yes.
NM: How did you get involved with the theater company Ruckus Theater?
PB: They e-mailed me and asked if I wanted to do this benefit for them. I said yes! That was it. It was pretty easy. I was happy to support them.
NM: Okay, the big question. Do you think Tyra Sanchez deserved to win RuPaul's Drag Race?
PB: [ laughs ] I think Tyra was exactly what they were looking for. In that respect, yes, she does an amazing runway, she is gorgeous and very talented. The judges had a certain idea of what they wanted and I think Tyra was exactly what they were looking for or they wouldn't have chosen her. It is judged by a small group of people and everyone else can still be drag superstars in their own right.
Pandora Boxx will be racing into Berlin May 13 at 10 p.m. for Ruckustheater.org's event. Pandora will also be appearing on the new show RuPaul's Drag U, coming in July. Check logotv.com for times and dates.