Sasha Colby Bares It All

Winner of the Miss Continental pageant in 2012 and RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 15, Sasha Colby is embarking on her Stripped Tour later this month, and she’ll be bringing her first-ever solo show to Houston’s House of Blues on March 14. This tour promises to give her fans a closer look at the incredible woman whose recent credits include becoming a ponytail extensions magnate, speaking at the White House, and even portraying God.

“This is really exciting, and it’s been a long time coming,” says Colby of her tour. “Since I was in dance, it’s always been a dream to put on a big show on a nice stage. It’s been something that I’ve been wanting to tackle, and I’m excited to do it this year.”

The tour kicks off on February 29, but this wasn’t necessarily an intentional choice. “When I realized that it would be on a leap year day, I thought, ‘That’s really special,” Colby declares with a beaming smile. “Every four years, we can think about the first time I ever started a tour on February 29.’”

No stranger to Houston, Colby looks forward to returning to the city and spending time with some of her closest friends. “Chevelle Brooks, my sister, lives in Houston,” she says, “so whenever I do come to Houston, I’m usually staying at her house, and we’re chilling and hanging out with her friends and fam. It’s always a lovely sister-bonding moment.”

Beyond that, Colby is looking forward to sharing the love and support that Texans have given her over the years. “Texas has always been so great to me throughout my whole career,” admits Colby. “My first drag show ever, and a drag performance with Erica Andrews, was in San Antonio. She would take me to Dallas, Austin, and Houston. It’s a heavy pageant place, so I feel that there’s always that special love that I get from a Texas crowd.”

Audiences can naturally expect to hear Colby’s latest single, “Feel the Power,” during the Stripped Tour performances, but she has much more planned for her fans. “The whole idea of Stripped is to really bring it down. I feel like, for the past two years, it’s been high glam and high energy—every production, with being on Drag Race and everything,” she explains. “I feel like sometimes you have to strip it back down to remember why you do your art. And that’s really the main point of why I wanted to showcase a softer side, different stories, and more thoughtfulness while still giving some fun drag.”

“There’s acting, there’s dancing, there’s lip syncing, and it’s just a chance for me to do some numbers that I love doing and a chance to tell stories that the Drag Race fans may want to see, or that my friends would want to hear on stage,” Colby adds. “It’s candid time. And the rehearsals are really fun. It’s just the dancers, my creative team, and I, and we’re just allowing things to blossom as they come.”

Being the amazing drag mother she is, the part that Colby is most looking forward to each night of the tour is where she includes local drag artists in the show. “We had an open call for up-and-coming-drag performers in each of the cities that I’m going to be visiting. We had literally 600 submissions of audition tapes. I went through all of them and got to pick the top three from each city,” Colby says. “Then we left it up to social media to decide who they wanted to represent their respective cities. I’m really excited to see what each city has to bring with their up-and-coming drag, while allowing that new talent to have a place to be exciting and to share. This whole tour is just a labor of love. What I really want is to break down that wall, connect with the audience, and have that intimate synergy of audience and performer that you really don’t get a lot when you’re in the big club spaces. I’m really excited to be able to have this as my own safe space and welcome people in—and, of course, to strip.”

Tickets for the Sasha Colby: Stripped Tour are available on Ticketmaster. “Tickets are going pretty fast in a lot of the big cities, so if you want them, go get them now,” Colby notes. You can also support her by purchasing hair pieces from her ponytail line at SalonXtensions.com. “We have ten different shades,” she adds, “and we’re also going to come out with a second length, so we’re really excited to keep on growing with the fam.”

WHAT: Sasha Colby: Stripped Tour
WHEN: March 14
WHERE: House of Blues Houston
Info:  houseofblues.com/houston