Julia's on Broadway, a popular Capitol Hill restaurant and bar and home to Le Faux Productions, is under scrutiny after the July 9 release and reposting of an "urgent message from the Queens of Julia's" directed to the performance community and patrons of the business.

The message represents the feelings and requests of the following former Julia's drag performers: Jacob Almanza aka Queen Andrew Scott, Dani Santiago aka Victoria Amore, Andrea Balderas aka Drea, Ian Hill aka Irene Dubois, Warren Ayers aka Sreya Nerraw, and Luis Luviano aka Arrietty. These entertainers have invested significant time into performances at Julia's, ranging anywhere from three months to ten years.

They claim that at Julia's, they were all "consistently underappreciated, underpromoted, overly controlled, and underpaid."

They say that because of these mounting feelings, they had brought their questions, concerns, and requests to the owner, Eladio Preciado. To the performers, their requests were doable, but also mostly served as a jumping-off point for discussion.

Those requests were as follows: (1) for each queen to be paid $300 per show, per performer, including weekly rehearsals and performances; (2) suspension of the policy that prohibits them from performing at other venues; and (3) personal time off for the primaries, contingent on the performers providing coverage.

But, according to the performers, Preciado was not willing to discuss these terms with them, and instead opted to close the show down and fire them. This even led to Preciado sending performers pictures of their belongings in boxes, and letting them know that if they didn't pick them up within 24 hours, they would be donated.

For the performers, the message was simple: Preciado's way, or the highway.

Dubois, who had been performing at Julia's for four years said, "The business relied on exploiting our passion for the craft... When [Preciado] realized that we no longer wanted to be exploited, that there was no half-way, and that we all [the performers] collectively agreed, it was clear that he had no intention of respecting his staff."

Balderas, who has worked at Julia's for five years said, "We are called the Julia's family, but when it comes from the side of ownership, we didn't feel that."

For those feeling like the performers' requests for pay might be unreasonable, not only do the performers believe their requests were fair because of the price of tickets, but because of the total revenue generated through tickets, food, and drinks. As Nerraw said, "The performers... are making less in one show than it costs for a single ticket."

The tension had been building for some time and stemmed not only from money matters but from the workplace environment that Preciado had built. The performers recall hearing the owner say things such as "everyone is replaceable."

Many performers have been too afraid to speak up until now. Almanza, who has been working at Julia's for ten years, said, "It's been a revolving door: when someone is tired, they leave. Then another queen gets pulled into the same culture." While this has been a horrible process for the performers to observe, as Almanza said, "You see it happen, but you keep your head down."

On July 10, Preciado took to Facebook to present some "facts about the story," rebutting multiple claims, saying that the cast and crew can and does perform regularly at other places and venues, as well as that "$300 per show is not realistic" and that nobody would pay that rate.

Preciado might be right that nobody would pay that rate — and that might just be part of the problem. According to Nerraw, underpayment and underappreciation is an "industry issue," which is something that the former Julia's crew hopes their requests and the public's reaction to them will shed light on. They hope this will "show the importance of this issue."

After the unpredictable year that was 2020, the crew is upset about more than just losing their jobs right after reopening, though. As Almanza said, "We lost something. We loved the venue and our castmates, and we didn't want this to happen."

The former queens at Julia's believe that the best way to solve this issue now is through solidarity. On their GoFundMe page, set up to benefit the former queens, they ask that "our fellow performers, including kings, queens, burlesque [performers], dancers, and live singers, join us in solidarity and not accept bookings at Julia's on Broadway or Le Faux Productions." They say, "We deserve to be well compensated and can no longer accept that establishments 'do not make enough money' to pay their performers."

According to Julia's on Broadway's website, "Le Faux Productions will be down for a few weeks" and that "tickets are on sale now for August with an AMAZING new cast."

While Julia's looks to be reopening without its former queens, they still have regal attitude. As Almanza said, "Julia's was just a stage — we brought the excitement."