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decamber 17 2004 »
Dragging out the family
tTberga^y Cabaret subverts gender—and sibling rivalry
by
A aron S c o tt
A
string-bean-thin drag queen in w orkout gear
jazzercizes with a sim ply m arked fitness
bible: A tkins. Suddenly, a drag king dressed
as a giant slice o f white bread bounds on
stage an d desperately sings “1 W ant You to W ant
M e ." N o t to be forsaken, another drag king
dressed as a T-bone steak appears, an d a battle for
the worship o f the weight w atcher ensues until the
inevitable happens: Like all A tkins defectors, the
drag queen ends up on her knees, going down on
the iibersexy piece o f W onder B read.
While food has no doubt played a signifi
cant role in filling out many a drag queen’s
gown, few drag acts have involved food, let
alone intelligently and humorously explored its
fetishization.
But then, Ubergay Cabaret, the culinary
experts behind this piece, is not your average
drag troupe. While its five core members have
begun to make a ruckus in the Portland queer
scene during the past two years, sibling
founders Claire and Devan McGrath-Riecke,
who play twins Max Voltage and Pollyanne
Marie on stage, have been collaborating
together for life, literally. Ever since Claire first
applied lipstick to Devan’s 18-month-old lips.
“We dressed up every holiday and put on
skits,” explains Claire, 23. “Devan always
played the girl because he was shorter. It
seemed natural.”
Gender-swapping would not strike most
parents as natural, but Sue McGrath says she
and Bob Riecke “nurtured imagination in their
children” and accepted their drag as “the the
atrics of childhcxxl.” Still, Bob preferred that
Devan didn’t wear dresses in front of guests at
their Lake Oswego home.
Like many kids, Devan and Claire took to
performing at an early age. From a room filled
with costumes and props, their self-directed
productions would often go until an ending
was parentally decreed. (Each skit had to have
“a beginning, a middle and an en d ," the two
quote their mother.) However, their perform
ances differed from most kids in their extrava
gance and costume choice, which ranged from
odd, genderless disasters to straightforward,
inncxent drag.
“Their choices were always very fluid,” Sue
recalls, although she admits most of Claire’s
princess dresses ended up showcasing Devan,
who admired them more. Regular characters
included Mr. and Mrs. Zorro (Claire in black,
Even as children, Claire (left) and Cevan were
deconstructing the gender binary
Devan in pink), Thundergirl and Superkitty.
“We were always subverting gender,” admits
Devan, 21, facetiously adding, “I guess we were
ahead of our time in performance art vision.”
A projected home video records two grade
schcxilers perform ing a choreographed dance to
“G rn n a M ake You Sw eat ( Everybody D ance
N ow ) . ” The boy w ears a black athletic jacket,
while the girl is in a turquoise sports bra. Pollyanne
M arie an d Max Voltage jum p on stage, having
sw apped costum es so that Pollyanne is in the bra
and M ax is in the jacket, and they break into the
sam e dance. Although there is nothing pnxligious in
the choreography or scandalous in the concept, the
piece is revolutionary fo r the audience, which is
given an inspiring and wholesome understanding o f
‘‘We Are Fam ily" by a sibling drag duo playing
each other as they dance along to a 15 -year-old
home video shot by their mother.
Claire and Devan McGrath-Riecke will
welcome 2005 as Hansel and Gretel
troupe has stripped gender like a Silverado
dancer to create politically provocative and chal
lenging pieces. “Through the use of drag, we
The drag-tinged theatrical exploits of the
want to deconstruct the gender binary and the
pair “grew more sophisticated,” Sue remembers,
politics of sex,” they state, and few of their pieces
“until they stopped with junior high, when the
escape some commentary on the gender and sex
two drifted apart.” Devan came out to support
ual inequalities slithering through our scx:iety.
ive although admittedly surprised parents the
Often they go one step further and explicit
summer before eighth grade. Their experience
ly address the conservative policies of President
with Devan prepared them to recognize queer
Bush and supporters of so-called “family val
signifies so that when Claire told them she
ues.” One of their most complicated perfonn-
had a girlfriend during her senior year, Bob
ances, set to Billy Idol's “White Wedding,”
turned to Sue and simply said, “Well, honey, it
involved a drag king Dubya’s attempt to break
lcx>ks like we’re two for two.'’
up a gay couple and enough subsequent gender
While studying gender theory at Santa
changes to bring the whole house of gender to
Clara University,
a crumbling min.
Claire states, “I
“But drag and politics is only a
became more
starting point,” Claire qualifies.
intellectual about
“We consider ourselves a theater
my identity and
troupe that does drag.”
found the lan
“Entertainment is our first
guage and fluidity
goal,” Devan continues her
to deconstruct
thought (which they are prone to
and play with
do). And each show is better for
gender.” But the
the infusion of intelligence, wit,
Claire gives Devan his first taste of drag
drag started
theatricality and raw sex appeal
through activism.
that makes not only for good drag,
“I organized the first drag show to address queer
but good performance.
invisibility,” she recalls. “It was huge; I got
Sue says the straight friends she brings to
addicted.”
shows agree that Ubergay Cabaret has hit a
Although the Jesuit administration was not
pleasure nerve anyone can access, whether
as pleased, Claire and Devan agree that her
stranger, family or fam ily. The parents have
success was a reconfirmation of their childhcxxl
seen every performance since their children
gender-play. She went on to win San Francis
built the Uberheroes set in the garage.
co’s Drag King 8 title.
Sue even attended a show in drag as a char
acter named Red Hots. She hopes one day her
D ressing and m ovm g like he belongs
kids will script her alter ego into a number.
in a boy band, M ax Voltage unzips his
fly an d, puzzled by the empty space
U bergay C abaret presents Jack’s Off the
between the zippered teeth, starts into
Beanstalk: A Mish-Mash Fairy Bash D ec. 31 at
the soliloquy o f one-hit-wonder K ing
M issile's ‘‘D etachable P erus." A s he
searches under the table, a heavier-set,
am biguously gendered perform er w ear
ing black spandex, a flesh-colored skull
cap and two m elon-sized testicles at
w aist level tiptoes on stage, hands curled
at chest level like a chipmunk. The two
play a slapsack gam e o f cat-and-m ouse
until M ax locates his penis, gnnds it into
his hips and priKeeds to literally interpret
the song's clim ax while the perus sprays
Silly String on the audience.
N octu rn al, 1800 E . Burnside S t. The evening
starts with a dance party from 8 p.m. to midnight
featuring D J Yeah Yeah, radical drag troupe
Sissyboy and young drag perform ers Jm kx M onsixm
D uB ois and Kinetic. The pop-drag-opera begins at
12:15 a . m ., when H ansel and G retel (C laire and
D evon) throu queer twists on childhtxd favorites,
including an S/M Sn ou White and a multimedia
Three Little Pigs. Tickets are $ 8 in advance from
Jackpot Records and $ 1 0 at the dixrr. JHI
Since Ubergay^ first Portland
show, Uberheroes, at Klub Z, the
Voltage. She's not buying. Please contact him at
aaronxscott@ yahix) .'com.
A aron S cxttt is a free-lance journ alist. H e is
trym g to am vin ce his sister— a student at San ta
C la ra U niversity— to carry on the legacy o f Max
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