Edu Díaz in A Drag Is Born, photo by Madeleine Joyce
Fringe Festivals are a bastion of independent theater and live performance, but sadly New York City has been without one ever since FringeNYC shuttered several years ago. Finally, there’s a new Fringe in town: New York City Fringe! NYC Fringe is a bit of a re-brand, having operated as the Frigid Festival since 2006. According to Managing Director Erez Ziv, this year’s festival has already outpaced sales for last year’s festival, so clearly New York is happy to see that Fringe is back! Among the 46 productions being performed in five venues across the Lower East Side, NYC Fringe boasts three drag shows. I chatted with Edu Díaz from A Drag is Born, Queerly Femmetastic from Flossy Follies, and Vulva Va-Voom from TransMasculine Cabaret.
Hi, Edu! Give me the elevator pitch for A DRAG IS BORN.
A Drag Is Born is the hilarious story of a random, middle-aged man who is magically thrust into the spotlight to become a drag queen and discover who he is. The show is a joyful celebration of diversity, and as such, it is nonverbal: everyone is welcome at the 14th St Y.
How did you get started in drag?
I began as a kid when I didn’t even know the meaning of “drag.” I would use a plastic bag as a wig and sing Como una Ola, a legendary song by the most splendid Spanish diva ever, Rocío Jurado. I continued to throw drag parties with friends, but they were strictly private. With this show, I’m coming out as a drag performer!
Who is your biggest drag inspiration?
As an early teenager, I clandestinely snuck into the Blue Dreams, an iconic gay club on the island of Tenerife, my homeland. There, I saw an extraordinary lady called Aroa Jilton ripping off decorative stalactites from the venue’s ceiling as she lip-synched La Gata Bajo la Lluvia by Rocío Dúrcal. Apart from being a referent, Aroa is a vulnerable and unpredictable performer, and that’s the quality that attracts me to drag as an art form.
WILDCARD: Tell me something you think my readers would want to know.
I had the privilege of performing at The Stonewall Inn when A Drag Is Born was a sketch. I decided to create the full-length show after the astonishing reaction it got from the audience. It was the best experience of my life on stage.
Hi, Queerly Femmetastic! Give me the elevator pitch for FLOSSY FOLLIES.
Get some rhinestones for those boots and sparkle on that cowboy hat! Flossy Follies: The Yee-Haw Agenda is riding into the New York City Fringe. Nightlife entertainers Queerly Femmetastic and Professor M are behind Flossy Follies, which centers performers at the intersection of Black and LGBTQ+ identities within the provocative arena of burlesque: the dramatic art of striptease.
How did you get started in drag?
Both Professor M and I are burlesque performers. Burlesque is the older (and occasionally more glittery) sibling to drag. The two art forms are deeply related and it was really important to us to ensure that both burlesque and drag were represented in this show. We have booked Black NYC drag kings and things for this show, as both drag kings and things are booked less often in the drag scene around the world.
Who is your biggest drag inspiration?
My (Queerly Femmetastic) personal drag inspiration is Miss Egypt Blaque Knyle. She is a Black femme queen on the west coast and I really admire her commitment to high glamour and fashion forward femme aesthetics.
WILDCARD: Tell me something you think my readers would want to know.
Book. Black. Drag. Things. And. Kings.
Hi, Vulva Va-Voom! Give me the elevator pitch for TRANSMASCULINE CABARET.
Every Vulva Va-Voom show is “high art meets vulgar dive bar” entertainment. We jam a lot into an hour: constant jokes, soft-shoe, guitar, a compelling tragic plot, dildo clowning…even a short opera aria. I’m transmasculine identifying by day, but present in female/male drag by night. It’s a solid script that helps allies understand how being gender non-conforming impacts mental health.
How did you get started in drag?
A segment of the show reenacts it: “In the 80s and 90s, picture a bunch of old Great Depression-era southern church ladies directing community theater auditions. And every semester, this super weird half-pint kid shows up, practically wearing a Junior Pants-Packer Starter Dick.” “I declare, why do you always have to play the man?” It was a smokescreen, the only outlet for my real gender expression. Then, in 2006, as the burlesque revival was starting, my nerdy-gothic-fandom ties led me to the gritty underground bar cabaret scene. People called me a burlesque triple-threat, but—because so much of it was about satirizing the feminine traits I just can’t kick—it was technically a drag queen act.
Who is your biggest drag inspiration?
Many years ago, Suzy Izzard—better known as Eddie Izzard—called her presentation “executive cross-dressing” because cis-heteros couldn’t understand what was, at the time, a non-binary identity. She was a trailblazer! Her “sometimes femme, sometimes masc” presentation turned out to be a component of this beautiful, complicated gender journey.
WILDCARD: Tell me something you think my readers would want to know.
Achievement unlocked: my male presentation PASSES! And being called “a hot twink” is pretty damn good for my age. Stroke of Genius: Pantomime Masturbation Throughout Performing Arts History is running in this festival at The Wild Project (and is fucking hysterical). I was head writer on that script, and I clown in the film segments as the 1920s cis-male vaudeville silent movie star. During our recent Asheville run, some members of the queer community were overheard commenting about “the hot twink” in the films…and were surprised to learn I’d been assigned female at birth.
NYC Fringe runs through April 21st. Tickets can be purchased at https://www.frigid.nyc/festivals/frigid-festival/.
