Long before Jinkx Monsoon was lighting up Broadway, she was a college student in the Pacific Northwest learning about commedia dell’arte — the classical art of being a clown. It’s easy to see that training paying off in everything she does: her top-notch drag artistry, which made her a two-time winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race ; this summer’s swashbuckling Pirates! The Penzance Musical , which took her to the Tony Awards stage; and now playing an unhinged Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh, Mary! , the laugh-so-hard-it-hurts play from Cole Escola.

“I feel like every character I play is a drag role,” says Monsoon, 37. “It doesn’t matter the gender of the character or the costume I’m wearing. You’re stepping into a persona through presentation and performance — that’s drag.”

Monsoon’s recent

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