Robin O’Donoghue’s stage name is Lamia Insomnia Lexicon Doom Monroe, or Lamia Monroe for short.
Monroe is a drag queen who has performed all over Alaska — especially Southeast this summer. The last two years, she has gone to Juneau “every month or every other month,” and to Skagway Pride for three consecutive years, she said. This July, Monroe was part of the first official drag show in Haines, which took place at the Southeast Alaska State Fair and gathered a crowd of hundreds.
One of Monroe’s recent numbers features an iconic chevron swimsuit and sunglasses, which has been popular, especially given the summer of Barbie.
“I did the Barbie number,” Monroe said. “I kind of brought it on the mini-Pride tour. It’s kind of crazy that drag keeps getting bigger and Alaska keeps growing every year.”
As an active member in Alaska’s drag scene, Monroe says audience members come up fairly often to let her know that it is the first show they have ever attended, and tell her that they had this “transformative experience.”
“Each experience is different. Each audience is different,” Monroe said. “So that’s kind of cool.”
In September, Alaska Community Action on Toxics, Alaska Public Interest Research Group, and Native Movement hosted Drag for a Cause with environmental drag queen Pattie Gonia, raising over $60,000 for the three groups. Monroe said over 200 people attended the event, which also featured local queens Golden Delicious, Athena Nuff and Ice Watah.
“It was a cool experience,” Monroe said. “It was an opportunity to do what I do in front of people who haven’t seen it before.”
She was recently crowned Miss Gay Alaska 2023-2024, and is staying busy as one of the costume designers for this year’s Mad Myrna’s rendition of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
“I think this year has really been honing the craft of performing, trying new things with performing, like putting more effort into choreography and creating custom numbers and costuming — it always seems that the longer I do it, the more particular I am,” Monroe said.
Monroe is looking forward to competing in Miss Gay America Alaska in November in Juneau, a state preliminary for a national pageant system.
Sam Davenport is a writer residing in Anchorage. She's a leo and a plant-person, and loves spending quality time with her dog, Aspen. She is a Real Housewives fan and has been called a Bravo historian.
