Skip to main content
Ry Bred burst through the front double doors of Bar Cala’s drag brunch one recent Sunday morning for her dance number, a vision in a fuchsia beaded jumpsuit. As Ry Bred danced and lip-synced to the 1979 disco hit “Knock on Wood,” she made the most of Bar Cala’s baby pink support beams as a dance accessory. She took a swig from the corner table’s bottle of Champagne. She boldly and successfully combined an auburn wig with fuchsia lipstick—an advanced move, for sure.
And now, Ry Bred is WW’s inaugural Finest Drag Artist, after only two years in the biz.
“It’s crazy. It’s wild,” she says. “I’m on this list with icons in the scene who’ve been doing it, some of them, for a decade or longer. So it feels really validating to be seen by my peers for what I bring.”
What Ry Bred brings is camp and humor and over-the-top drag. For her second performance at drag brunch, she worked the room to 1983’s “Walking on Sunshine” in a flower-inspired costume with a green polyester pantsuit “stem” and a homemade fabric headpiece, at least 3 feet in diameter.
To craft the headpiece, Ry Bred went to town with wire, duct tape, a hot-glue gun, and hot pink fabric. Her creativity spans costuming to the live show.
“When I have the opportunity, I like to create conceptual, campy over-the-top numbers,” she says. “I really like to make the audience laugh and have a good time and leave with positive energy and vibes, so that’s my goal. I want people to pee their pants from laughing.”
In addition to being in the cast of Brunch Portland, Ry Bred hosts events at Badlands downtown, drag bingo at Mayfly, and a show called “That’s Camp!” at the Clinton Street Theater twice a year (the next one is Sept. 26).
Some of those events, like “That’s Camp!” are co-hosted with local drag artist Tomboy, her partner for the past 12 years. Being one half of a drag power couple has its benefits. Namely, “you can’t buy that chemistry,” she says.
By day, Ry Bred is Ryan Solan, a high school science teacher. Solan grew up a musical theater kid, also involved in dance and show choir. That creative energy fell to the wayside as he became an adult and got a job and life got a lot more boring. After a “lovely talk with my therapist,” he realized she needed to get in touch with the performing arts again. Ry Bred was born at Portland Pride 2023.
“I did not expect to be this successful at all,” she says. “This is a hobby on the side; I thought I would be doing some open call shows here and there. But once I started making a splash, I haven’t really slowed down since.”
