LUNA SOFÍA MIRANDA:

“I DON’T WANT TO GO ANYWHERE, I JUST WANT HERE TO BE BETTER.”

War In High Heels
Written and Photographed by Amanda Poise
17 June 2022

WIHH: You produced and hosted a show tonight. How do you feel?

DOCTOR LUNA: Oh my god. I feel so happy right now. This has been the biggest audience I’ve ever had. They were so enthusiastic. I feel like I really connected with my audience tonight.

WIHH: What is usually the most difficult thing about producing a show?

DOCTOR LUNA: I’m doing three jobs in one. So I’m the producer, but I’m also the MC and I’m also performing. We’re a very queer, low budget group of people so I have to wear multiple hats. It can get very difficult to do everything all at once.

WIHH: How did you know producing and hosting was something for you?

DOCTOR LUNA: I literally started producing and hosting because I wasn’t getting booked. It became something I did– not because I wanted to, but because I needed to. I think tonight sealed the deal for me because the last show almost killed me. Before I was like– I can’t do this. It’s not worth it to host and produce, to do two extra things just to perform. But tonight I feel like I actually really like this. It’s really nice.

WIHH: Do you think you found your niche?

DOCTOR LUNA: I don’t know! I think so! I like being queer, low-budget, kinda ratchet, you know… small bar, big crowd, we all bought our costumes at the thrift store…

WIHH: What is it about this scene that you feel is really special?

DOCTOR LUNA: A lot of people start performing because they eventually want to perform at The Slipper Room or House of Yes, or they want to go even bigger than that. They want to travel the world performing or they want to go to Los Angeles. And literally… I want to be here. Because this is where my community is. I can have a direct dialogue with my community, which is mix-raced, New York, Queer, Sex Worker, working young adult, this is where they are. I don’t want to perform at big clubs in Manhattan because that’s not where my community is. I like it here. I do wish I was making a little more money because it’s expensive. I get paid and the cash immediately goes to performers and photo & video. I wish I had enough to take an Uber home, but I think eventually it will happen. It is what it is for now.

WIHH: Why this venue? What is it about Pink Metal?

DOCTOR LUNA: I emailed them and they let me have a show!


WIHH: Oh, it can be as simple as that!

DOCTOR LUNA: Well, that’s how it started. But I like Pink Metal because its a Queer Bushwick Bar. I don’t have to search too hard for my audience, they’re here, and they want to be entertained. I like keeping my money in the community, keep my hard work in the community. And it’s fucking pink!

WIHH: Where do you see yourself in Neo-Burlesque? Is there a mission you want to accomplish in this scene? Or is this something you sort of stumbled on and now you’re here and doing it?

DOCTOR LUNA: I literally want to do what I’m already doing. I want to create a space for us! I would like to be a better host so I can weave in some of my political agenda. It’s not really an agenda, there needs to be a space where queer people, working people, young adults can come talk about the things we want to talk about and see the entertainment that represents us. I try really hard to have shows with a diversity of skin tones and body types. I want people to come to the shows and feel like they’re at a party with their friends.

WIHH: What do you see in the long-term for you right now?

DOCTOR LUNA: I really don’t know. I always thought I knew what I wanted and I had this plan, and then I had a crisis. And now I’m working and making money. I’m doing this show every other week and I like it.

WIHH: What crisis?

DOCTOR LUNA: I got pregnant. It was a very difficult pregnancy. I could not have an abortion for two months because they thought it was outside of my uterus. They thought the egg had fertilized on my fallopian tube. So they were like– we can’t approve you [Doctor Luna] for an abortion until we’re sure its in your uterus, otherwise they would have had to remove my tubes. I couldn’t eat for two months, I was violently throwing up, I fucked up my MFA auditions, I stopped working, I dropped out of the program I was in– but, it was kind of the best thing that ever happened because now I’m not trying to be something that I’m not.

WIHH: Thank you for being so honest and vulnerable with me. Do you want to include this into the interview?

DOCTOR LUNA: Of course. I trust you. I really trust you because you’re one of us. It’s so important to be documented. Thank you.

WIHH: Okay, last question. What is burlesque to you?

DOCTOR LUNA: All Black, Indigenous, AAPI, Latinos, we were all robbed of our ancestral, wave-making art. However my ancestors made art, I will never know because it was erased. But we’re all coming together here and we’re creating what we lost. It’s really beautiful because it’s all of us from all these different parts of our lives. It’s a ritual, it’s a celebration of us and being queer and being alive. Wherever my ancestors are, they’re happy now.

WIHH: That’s so beautiful. I feel your sensitivity right now!

DOCTOR LUNA: I am! I have a white parent and a Brown parent, and I look like the white parent. But my mom’s side of the family lives in my blood when I’m here doing Reggaeton burlesque with all of you and everyone’s singing along. I feel it in my blood, and that’s a special thing.