WERRRK.com has proudly partnered up with the Austin International Drag Festival this year and we have been given the privilege of announcing this year’s headliners first! We are so excited about being a part of this amazing event this year and we cannot wait to bring you all the fabulous drag artists that are going to be headlining this year!
Our next headliner is another artist from Austin proper! We are very excited to announce that Mary Jane Styles will be headlining the Austin International Drag Festival this year! (Get your tickets here and join us in Austin this fall!)
We were able to get a few words with Mary about being part of this year’s Austin International Drag Festival!
Congratulations on being named a headliner Mary Jane! How did you get involved with the Austin International Drag Festival and what does this opportunity mean to you?
Thank you so much! I am so excited for this year’s festival, it’s such an honor to be named a headliner. I performed in the 2017 festival and had such a good time meeting people and networking with queers from across the world. I got to work with a few of my favorite artists that year. I decided I HAD to be a part of this. I applied to be in the festival in 2018, and that summer before the festival there was an opening on the Board of Directors for Austin International Drag Foundation, that I was asked to fill. I’ve been working hard behind the scenes quite a bit this year to make this festival happen and I’m so grateful to be rewarded with this opportunity to represent the board and the festival this way.
For those people living under a rock, can you tell us a little bit about Mary Jane Styles and your drag?
I grew up as a theatre kid. I was in a touring theatre group in DFW and we toured across Texas, and to Chicago, New York City, Washington DC, and across Italy. In high school I won speech and theatre competitions but I wasn’t doing much performing. In college I decided to give Drag a try. After performing quite a bit in San Marcos, I ended up migrating to Austin to focus more on drag. My drag is inspired by things that move me, high fashion, indie alternative music, hip hop culture, drug culture and psychedelia as well as theatre and camp. I’m known for a couple things, a tight lip sync, a larger than life makeup style, and being stoned 24/7. I do lots of hosting now and I love to MC and werrrk that crowd. I’m currently curating two show series here in town. First, “wILD 2.0” at the Electric Church every third Thursday, this show series was my first show I hosted and it’s moved locations a couple times but it’s about highlighting drag talents from all sorts of artists focusing on people of color, trans folx, and alternative styles. Second, every fourth Thursday I’ll be at Sahara Lounge with my concept art drag shows, focusing on creating authentic artistic experiences within Drag. We just had our first show “7.sins” on May 23rd and it was an absolute blast! We’ll return on June 27th for “Video Killed the Radio Star”!
3We can’t wait to see what you’re planning on bringing to the stage in Austin! Can you give the WERRRK .com universe a little tease of what’s to come this fall in Texas?
If you’ve been paying attention to me lately you’ll know which artists inspire me, and I will continue to draw on those artists for inspiration. But I have two acts planned that will be one night only engagements that you won’t wanna miss! We won’t paint the town red, we’ll paint it gold!
