‘Living, Not Just Surviving,’ an exhibition featuring Cass Downing — a.k.a. Cass Marie Domino — is now open at Memorial Union.
Usually she struts. Ever-fierce and fabulous in a tiara and heels, Cass Marie Domino knows how to command a room. But on this quiet day in early June, she wears no makeup, no towering wig or six-inch rhinestone earrings. She isn’t here to perform under her stage name as the veteran drag artist, prominent AIDS activist, sober advocate, and pioneering trans woman who’s helped shape Madison’s LGBTQ+ community for nearly 40 years. She is simply Cass Downing, and she is getting her first glimpse of the new exhibition in her name, located in the Main Gallery at the Memorial Union. This is her storied life’s work as she has never seen it before: Curated. Celebrated.
“Wow,” she murmurs softly, taking a tentative step into the airy space. She slips off her shoes and pads barefoot into the room, her unpolished fingernails fluttering to her neck. “I can’t believe this,” she says, again and again. “I really can’t.”
“Living, Not Just Surviving” is an exhibition presented by the student-led Wisconsin Union Directorate Art Committee. It kicks off with a reception on June 12 at 5:30 p.m. in Main Gallery, Memorial Union, and runs through September 12. The dynamic project represents months of dedicated work and a collaborative effort between numerous campus partners, including student co-curators Evelyn Geier and Cam Young, both class of 2028; the Open House Learning Community student seminar, led by Art History and Gender and Women’s Studies Prof. Anna Campbell; Dr. Scott Seyforth, co-founder of the Madison LGBTQ+ Archive at UW Libraries; and, of course, Cass herself, aided by friend and stage specialist Julia McConahay, owner of Chrysalis Hair & Body on Madison’s east side.
The exhibition’s location also marks a full circle moment of sorts. When Cass was in her teens, it was at a meeting of the 10% Society — held at the Memorial Union — that she first met Sondra Lynne Domino, the performer who would become her mentor. That story is one of dozens told on the exhibit’s wall text, which is compiled from hours of interviews conducted by Seyforth. “That was my first transgender person that I met in my life,” Cass says. “I learned all about doing drag through Sondra. I got the Domino name from Sondra.”
Now Cass herself is a mentor — it’s just one of her many roles. “I have so much gratitude,” she says as she takes in the photographs, newspaper clippings, posters, certificates, trophies and sashes lining the gallery walls. Together they tell her very personal story against the backdrop of Madison’s local lore, from Hotel Washington to Drag Story Time to the Wisconsin AIDS Ride to Live on Queen Street.
But it’s the stunning gowns — four of them, all custom designed — that represent key moments in Cass’s career and embody the critical role she’s played in the community.
The Looks
Four statuesque mannequins anchor the exhibit, each assembled by Prof. Campbell’s students, and designed to show off one of Cass’s signature gowns. Designer Luis Miguel Garcia Carrera created two of the gowns: the Marilyn Monroe-esque “Pink Princess Gown,” made of pink faille with lace, sequins, faux pearls and rhinestones, and the “Red Ribbon Gown, Cape and Hat,” which embodies Cass’s decades of advocacy for HIV/AIDS charities. A third gown, “Madonna Vogue,” features a historical European court-inspired jacket and petticoat inspired by Madonna’s 1990 “Vogue” appearance at MTV’s Video Music Awards. The fourth mannequin shows off the “Trans Phoenix Gown,” replete with a ruffled white, blue and pink tulle and feathered skirt, and a phoenix eye glittering from the bodice. “A phoenix represents a survivor,” Cass says, “coming out of the ashes even stronger and better and bigger than they were before.”
The Performer
Even though she’s been at it for long enough to warrant a 40-year retrospective exhibition, Cass is still young, and keeps a robust performance schedule. “I grew up with the message that I will never amount to anything. But I have through entertaining,” Cass says. “I get happiness out of entertaining. I get escape out of entertaining. I’m just in my Wonderland, living my best fantasy out there on that stage. Feeling so beautiful and so proud and so secure.”
The Pageant Queen
Madison-based comedian Michael Bruno created Miss Gay Madison in 1981, and in 1993 it became Cass’s first pageant win. “It meant a lot to me to represent my community as Miss Gay Madison,” she says. “I’m born and raised here. These are my roots. This is my home.” Cass used her title to fundraise for local nonprofits close to her heart and personal experience, including the Rodney Scheel House and Porchlight. Cass has earned numerous other titles and awards including Miss Wisconsin Entertainer of the Year 2017, Miss Gay Wisconsin Continental 2001, Miss Madison Pride 2016, Legend of Drag Award 2023, and, her first national pageant title, National Entertainer of the Year Femme 2017.
The AIDS Activist
Cass was only 24 in 1995 when she was diagnosed with HIV. “There was so much stigma, even in our own community,” she says. At the Wisconsin AIDS Ride in 2006, she came out as HIV-positive to the Wisconsin State Journal, adding that she was actually a client of AIDS Network (now called Vivent Health). “I’ve been living with HIV since 1995, and this is my first time letting everybody know,” she told the reporter. “You can put that in the paper.” Cass would go on to champion the cause in countless fundraisers and events, including establishing the wildly successful Camp Bingo series in 2006.
The Clean and Sober Cass
The stigma and discrimination still faced by members of the LGBTQ+ community increases numerous risk factors, including the use of alcohol and drugs as a coping mechanism. “I was a self-destructive addict,” Cass says, until she found her way to a treatment center in 2000. Since then, she’s been active in 12-step recovery circles, and the exhibit includes certificates of recognition that carry deep meaning for her. “Sobriety gave me the success I have had since,” she says.
The Drag Story Time Ambassador
San Francisco author Michelle Tea created Drag Story Time to promote reading literacy and foster diversity at children’s libraries. In 2018, the first Drag Story Time came to Wisconsin, held at Madison Public Library’s Pinney branch. From there, Cass was invited to host Drag Story Time at numerous locations across the Midwest, but she wasn’t always welcome. In Rockford, Illinois, she was greeted by more than 200 people picketing outside. She had to have a police escort, and library staff had to close all the blinds. “I just don’t get this. Those picketers were the ones scaring the children,” she says. “I was in my sparkling Ice Queen costume. The kids were in amazement of me.”
The Mentor
When Cass was coming up in Madison during the late 1980s, Hotel Washington was a safe haven. It sheltered a cluster of queer-owned bars under the ownership of Rodney Scheel, hosting drag shows by a community of performers that would become like family to Cass — in particular, Sondra Lynne Domino. Today, Cass herself is a mentor to drag daughter and UW–Madison student Andy Schueler, who performs as Andi Withani Domino. “It’s important to mentor LGBTQ youth,” Cass says. “It’s really important for young people to know that they have a place on this earth and that they’re valid being who they are.”
The Happily Ever After
Outside of drag, Cass worked as a Certified Nursing Assistant for 20 years, and more recently, as a job coach. She first met her husband, Ryan Mueller, when they were both using drugs. It took over a decade of recovery time as individuals before they began dating in 2016. Ryan proposed during Cass’s 50th birthday party drag performance and they married in August 2023. Photos of the proposal and their wedding hang on the gallery wall as part of the exhibition. “I’d done my work to deal with all those negative messages throughout my entire life,” Cass says. “This happened because I was in such a better place with myself and loved me more than I ever had before.”
“Living, Not Just Surviving” runs through September 12 at the Main Gallery in Memorial Union. It is sponsored by the Madison LGBTQ+ Archive, Open House Learning Community, UW–Madison Division of the Arts, Gender and Sexuality Campus Center, Center for Research on Gender and Women, and Center for Campus History.