Ahead of the Family Forward Festival, Ruby Chopstix praises their mom’s unconditional support
In a short documentary, the Vietnamese Canadian queen reflects on becoming the country’s first drag artist-in-residence
Ruby Chopstix. Photo by Ken Lozano
Carousel Theatre for Young People presents Drag Doc Double Bill: Becoming Ruby & Drag Is for Everyone at Performance Works on February 14 at 5 pm, as part of the Family Forward Festival
WHEN ALEX NGUYEN stepped onstage in drag for the first time, they’d never have guessed that the art form would become their long-term career.
It was 2018, in a dark basement studio at the University of Winnipeg. Nguyen had their makeup done by local queen Lita Tequila, donned a red outfit they sewed themself, and prepared to put on an intimate performance for their closest friends. Their drag persona? Vietnamese divorcée Madame Chopstixxx. (In hindsight, says the artist, that was a questionable choice, given the fact that they were in their early 20s at the time and had never been married—let alone divorced.)
As Fifth Harmony’s “Reflection” and Ariana Grande’s “Greedy” rang out over the speakers, Nguyen gave it their all for six minutes. The crowd went wild.
“When I watched it back, it was not good,” the now-established queen tells Stir with a laugh. “But I remember I was living for it, and everybody else there was living for it. So it was a really fun moment.”
The fact is, nobody pops out of the womb knowing how to be the perfect drag queen. But what that initial positive experience did for Nguyen was solidify a passion that would eventually see them become the first-ever drag queen to receive an arts residency in Canada—and then star in a short documentary about the experience. (Presumably, ditching the divorcée shtick in favour of their current pop-princess persona, Ruby Chopstix, had a lot to do with that success.)
“Becoming Ruby”, which debuted at Hot Docs last year, will now screen as part of a double bill at Carousel Theatre’s inaugural Family Forward Festival, a multidisciplinary celebration of family constellations in all forms. Directed by Vietnamese Canadian filmmaker Quan Luong, the 10-minute short was filmed throughout Nguyen’s 2024 residency at Rainbow Resource Centre, and shows them preparing for a final performance.
“Representation is such a big thing that I think a lot of people take for granted, especially if you’re able to see yourself so much growing up,” Nguyen reflects. “As a queer Asian kid, I never saw Asian people in the spotlight. It was always a white person who was queer. It was never an Asian person. And if it was an Asian person within the spotlight, they would always be a stereotypical person—so they’d always be nerdy, they would be super smart at math, they would have that neon streak in their hair. There would never be a ‘real’ Asian person that you see [from] day to day. So screening this for so many people, for different families to see…it just shows that anybody can be anything.”
When Nguyen started really getting into Winnipeg’s local drag scene, they found it to be an incredibly welcoming space. The city’s main hub for the art form at the time was Club 200, a queer nightclub that was inclusive of all ages, genders, and ethnicities. But outside that venue, Nguyen noticed there weren’t many places where BIPOC performers could shine.
“I think that’s what truly solidified that I wanted to keep doing this as a career, as a passion,” Nguyen says. “Not just for myself to perform onstage, but also to help provide a space for BIPOC [drag artists] to shine and to not have to worry about being tokenized.”
Ruby Chopstix
“Becoming Ruby” shows the close relationship Nguyen has with their mom, Hue, who grew up singing in a small village in Vietnam, but lost her desire to do so when she immigrated to Canada. At Nguyen’s end-of-residency performance (shown in part in the documentary), the drag star gives their mom an opportunity to sing onstage. Nguyen says that getting to support their mom’s dreams in such a big way was a special moment, given that Hue has always done the same for them. And the shining example of that familial encouragement was when Nguyen found out they’d received the artist residency.
“I cried a lot,” they say. “I was so, so shocked. I have never really won anything to that degree. I didn’t think I was gonna win. Growing up, I just feel like it was never a thing that an Asian person could have won. It was always my white counterparts that would have won it. I just never, never dreamed of it being me. I just remember…”
Nguyen pauses for a moment, tearing up.
“Oh, sorry, I’m getting emotional, because I haven’t really thought about this in so long,” they continue. “I think it was the validation I didn’t know I wanted until it happened. I remember seeing my mom filming and crying the whole time, and it was just like, ‘Oh, I think I made it. I’m here. I’m being recognized for something I’ve always wished for. This is what I was made to do.’ And to see my mom, my family, and my friends be so happy for me, I think I just realized I finally made them proud. Which is weird to say—but I think that was the biggest emotion, was just finally accomplishing something that makes people happy and proud.”
At Performance Works, “Becoming Ruby” is sharing a bill with “Drag Is for Everyone”, a short directed by David Ng and Jenn Sungshine that shows what Carousel Theatre’s youth drag camp is all about. The screenings will be followed by a live drag show featuring local queens Shay Dior and Karmella Barr.
“I hope that this documentary also tells people that it may be difficult to talk about these topics,” Nguyen says. “But at the end of the day, you’re still family, and you should be able to love each other and support each other. I think a small moment in our documentary is showing that me and my mom are so supportive of each other and that she wants the best for me and I want the best for her. And I think that’s something that the world sometimes doesn’t tell you, especially right now. But I just hope it really inspires people. Talk to your family. Let them be whatever they want to be. There’s no limit—the sky is literally the limit.” 
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