The Rural We: Boxxa Vine
Berkshires drag performer Boxxa Vine (Aaron Johnson), “the love child of Patti LuPone and a glue gun,” is easygoing about a preferred pronoun, or even which name to be identified by. “People usually refer to me as Boxxa even when I don’t have makeup on,” he says. “Some don’t even know my real name!” But what everyone should know is that Boxxa, a drag queen pageant winner several times over and a Pittsfield resident, was named Berkshire Pride’s fourth Community Change Maker last month. Heavily involved in Berkshire County’s LGBTQ+ community, Boxxa/Johnson is well-known for producing “Boxxa’s Berkshire Drag Race” and received the award for his contributions and most recently, for making and selling thousands of masks since the pandemic arrived, raising money for multiple Berkshire County groups.
I’ve been with Berkshire Pride and its annual public LGBTQ Pride celebration before it even had its first permit. I booked all the talent and ran their entertainment. Currently I’m the entertainment chair.
Before I came to the Berkshires, I was in Orlando, where I worked in theme parks as an entertainer. There were bigger names in drag in Florida, and I started watching "RuPaul’s Drag Race." I realized it was a character all of them were building. As a theater major, I understood that and decided I wanted to do it.
It was a culture shock moving back to the woods, but my grandmother sent me her sewing machine and I taught myself to sew. Now I make all my costumes and design and make costumes for others.
I was riding high the end of last year. I spent a month in New York getting three contestants ready for "RuPaul’s Drag Race." My costumes were seen on national TV. We did 9 to 11 costumes a week. It was exhausting and I didn’t really like the city. I came back to the Berkshires and started producing shows at The Foundry in West Stockbridge — really more theater than a strict drag show. We also did “Bingo with Boxxa” and “Boxxa’s Beach Bash” outside Dewey Hall in September. We were working on a show, “Drag-Through Disney,” but that’s on hold for now.
Massachusetts went into lockdown on March 13, and my show on the 14th was cancelled. It also happened to be my 30th birthday. All the gigs I had through March, April, May — and the rest of the year — were gone, As a self-employed gig worker I was not allowed to apply for unemployment right away. What was I going to do? I sulked around for a bit, and then found a way to make masks. I turned my parents’ house into a sweatshop. They cut the fabric, and I’d sit at the sewing machine. It was a constant effort for months. We outfitted Berkshire Rehab with all their masks and make them for the employees at Price Chopper. Some of the proceeds went to the Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition, ROOTS Teen Center and Berkshire Bird Paradise. We did this from April through mid-September. I also collaborate with my mother on crafts and ornaments for Only in My Dreams. Now I’m working on the Miss/Mr. Berkshire Drag Pageant, this year a virtual contest.
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