MAX. Actually, we're two years apart, but for our entire lives everyone
has always thought we were twins, so we decided how perfect to make our drag personas twins. We promptly informed our parents, and my mother was a bit upset at her now 25 month labor. We're both queer; "two for two" as my father said when I came out.
EVA. I was the first to come out, but Claire was the first to start officially performing in drag. I guess we're always trying to one-up eachother a
little bit.
so max, you're san francisco's drag king of the year, yowza! how many
M. The competition was Sunday, July 20th and it was the biggest SF Drag King competition yet. There were 16 acts, with something like 50 performers total.
and you attend Santa Clara University, a Jesuit College. tell me about organizing the drag show. you're on number three now, right? you've had some trouble, though, right?
M. When homophobic alumni and parents read articles in the school paper after the first drag show (which was a huge sucess) they complained to the administration. The following year, when plans for the 2nd annual drag show
began, the administration informed us that calling it a drag show was too "in your face" and threatened expulsion of the queer group on campus. The rhetoric of the school is all about non-discrimination, but the reality is, they're more
concerned about the pockets of homophobic alumni then about social justice. In the end, we managed to avoid the words "drag" and perhaps because of the controversy, the 2nd show ended up being even larger than the first. I'm not sure exactly my plans for this year's show regarding naming, but there will be a drag show, whatever the name, at SCU this quarter.
when/where was Uberheroes Drag Spectacular?
M. Klub-Z, last summer, September, Friday the 13th.
E. We sure get good show dates, don't we?
do you both live in san francisco most of the year? are you just in portland for the summer? do you have a particular connection to portland?
E. We were both born in Corvallis and moved to Portland when I was 3 and Claire was 5. I still live here in Portland.
M. Our parents still live here, too. I moved down to Santa Clara after high school for college and have come "home" to portland every summer since.
so Homos go Yo-yo is a benefit for SMYRC, right? how did you get hooked up to
do a benefit for them?
M. We did a show AT SMYRC on August 23rd. The Nocturnal show is us trying to break even for all the fabulous fabric that my diva brother purchased to make costumes.
E. It's true.
what can we expect from this show? like, what would you say to make people want to go...
E. It's still uncommon to see drag kings and drag queens on stage together... because of details of respective heights and that sort of thing, we poke holes in eachother's gender illusions... but that's exactly what we should
be doing. We approach things from all different angles; we take into account everything from gender deconstruction and activism to the more tangible costumes and choreography. Mindful entertainment. Basically, if we can get you to
think, that's great. If we can impress the pants off of you with our smooth moves and faulous get-up, that's fantastic. Hopefully, though, you'll come out dancing, smiling, and thinking all at once.