The Colored Museum

Electronic music opens the scene as a neon sign reading “The Bottomless Pit” clicks on, revealing a lone barstool onstage. From a blast of smoke and haze, Miss Roj appears, dressed in extravagant drag attire. As a waiter arrives with her drink, Miss Roj describes The Bottomless Pit, a predominantly Black and Latino gay bar with a special clientele of Snap Queens, of which she is one. According to Miss Roj, Snap Queens come from a different galaxy and have extraterrestrial powers. Miss Roj asserts she is not “your regular oppressed American Negro” (14). The waiter re-enters. Miss Roj tells him to make her drink stronger next time. 

When the waiter exits, Miss Roj proclaims that she has been sent to Earth to study the deterioration of New York as the city does a “slow dance with death” (15). She interrupts herself to ask the audience what they think of her fabulous clothes. Noticing that she is getting drunk, she says she hopes that she can dance her demons out rather than drink them out. She then describes an incident in which she locked her father in a broom closet for three days because he drunkenly began using a gay slur towards her.