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spired her to participate in the event.
“I really wanted to make a critique about
I am an artist.” Kaj-anne, who goes by
no other name and has no preferred pro­ Lady Gaga and Madonna ‘cause I think
noun—but suggests “supermodel” as one of they’re thieves and I think they’re amazing
many options—says the term “drag punk” and I think it’s good for us as queers to re­
alize that we worship them because they’re
works too.
Kaj-anne, 25, credits Portland’s now reflections of us,” she says. “I just wanted to
defunct drag troupe Sissyboy for her full bring up the issue that I think they’re steal­
immersion into the world of drag perfor­ ing from us, it’s not the other way around.”
Kaj-anne will be judging the next Miss
mance. Only 19 at the time, she snuck into
a show and saw “a bunch of crazy fucked Thing on June 9 at The Fez and is slated to
up glitter-encrusted drag queens dancing in perform at Blow Pony’s Pride party on June
their underwear on some speakers.” While 19, as well as a host of dance performances
she had performed drag a few times before, over the summer.
In the meantime, she offers these words
it had never really resonated. After the
show, however: “I felt the passion—of the of advice: “Don’t stop. Get inspired. Fuck
shit up. Don’t apologize. Make love.”
Christ. It was a spiritual experience.”
Because Kaj-anne doesn’t identify with any
particular gender, drag encompasses far more
Mister E
than the donning of opposite gender attire.
“Presenting myself as not female, not
Erika Stanley goes both ways—in drag,
male, but other is really important,” she says.
“The quality of otherness in drag is vital that is. Performing double cross a la Victor
when you want to illicit an experience that Victoria, as well as presenting more masculine
is based out of gender and performance.”
characters, Erika blurs the lines of gender,
Conventional drag is too artistically leaving audiences wowed but also wonder­
limiting for the kind of performance art ing—making her current stage name, Mister
Kaj-anne wants to create. She prefers to use E, especially fitting.
“When I perform as a queen there’s the
drag as a “texture” for performance art that
is heavily rooted in dance and aims to make added mystery and confusion of the double
a statement, rather than just entertain.
cross. I like blurring that line for people
“[Drag queens] want to create an hom­ twice,” she says. “When I perform as a male I
age and a mockery of what is considered typically include burlesque, which is different
female and it’s entertainment value—and from a lot of traditional king performance
artistically, to me, it’s kind of narrow,” she because I’m subverting the machismo and
says. By viewing drag more as a gender per­ passing with frilly underthings and a shape-
formance than as a costume, the concept shifting sexual persona.”
becomes an umbrella that has room for all
When Erika Stanley, 33, first stepped
its interpretations. “You can be a boy in onto the Philadelphia stage as Madame Blue
a dress or you can be a fucking superstar in 1997, there was no one in town performing
‘Empress Diva 9000’and all of that still fits double cross. While she was well received by
within the gender that I call drag. And I’m audiences, her fellow performers were not as
a part of that too.”
thrilled. The flack, territoriality and double
Kaj-anne’s performances reflect her belief standards from other queens ultimately forced
that performance is liberation and revolu­ her to take a long hiatus from performing.
But her fascination with gender play
tion, and they always include the four essen­
tial components: “physicality, a message and brought her back to the stage, and eventually
intention, and lots of fucking energy.” She birthed a diverse cast of characters. The key
recently took that perspective to the stage players over the last few years have been Miss
at Miss Thing, claiming first place in May’s Conception—an old school British lady with
competition with her spin on Madonna vs. a fondness for torch songs and jazz standards,
Lady Gaga. In fact, the theme was what in­ Frank Lee Fabulous—an omnisexual playboy
SUBMITTED PHOTOS
2010 PRIDE
“ Drag for me is a woy to
be high fem m e a n d
b e a u tifu l, or ridiculous
a nd c o m p /, or co n fu sin g
in ways th a t ore d iffe re n t
th a n I am n o rm a ll/."
- Erika Stanley
cently performed over Memorial Day week­
end at Freakshow-A-Go-Go in Seattle with
dance troupe Untrained, I.
For Erika, drag is about suspending dis­
belief, a reaction she’s so good at eliciting
it’s occasionally unsettling. The first time
she performed at Vancouver’s North Bank,
the other queens took up a pool to guess
her biological gender, and she was thrilled.
Yet, in the day to day, she feels rankled when
people assume she is male.
“I get called sir an awful lot,” she says, but
“I have made my peace with the fact that at
least it’s a polite form of address.”
It is this extended illusion that dis­
tinguishes Erika from other performers.
W hether on or off the stage, she says, “I
truly remain a ‘Mr. E’ for a lot of folks,
even when they’ve seen me in my knickers.
I think the switching I do between gender
presentations and the comfort I proj­
ect while inhabiting different characters
[makes me different]." JW3
and charismatic jerk from South Philly, and
Mr. E—a mashup of all the characters into
Erika’s own personality.
Erika calls her drag approach “twisted old
school” because it takes conventional forms
of drag presentation and subverts them. By
portraying other characters and genders, she
can express parts of her personality that don’t
make a daily appearance.
“Drag for me originates in dress-up play,”
she says. “I walk around most days being very
gender ambiguous. I’m tall and slim and wear
my hair short. My cultural signifiers all say
‘male’even though I have a great rack. I think
of my face as handsome. Drag, for me, is a
way to be high femme and beautiful, or ri­
diculous and campy, or confusing in ways that
are different than I am normally.”
While Erika says she doesn’t have the
Pick up the June 18 issue of Just Out for
“ego” for competing, she has performed in profiles of Bulimianne Rhapsody, Sally Ingus
Portland at Someday Lounge, the Fez, Acme Wilder and more, and to see Portland’s new
(now Plan B), the E Room, Embers and The wave of drag performers, check out the following
North Bank. In Philadelphia, she’s made ap­ events: Miss Thing, 9p.m.,June 9 (every second
pearances at L’Etage with Martha Graham Wednesday), The Fez, $5 in advance, $10 at the
Cracker’s cabaret, Bob and Barbara’s, The door; Saturnalia, 9 p.m., June 14 (every sec­
Walnut Room, Hamburger Mary’s, Republi­ ond Monday), The Someday Lounge, free; Peep
Show, 9 p.m., July 6 (everyfirst Tuesday), Red
can Club and others.
She also sings and dances, and most re­ Cap Garage, $2.
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