Max Levitt never performs the same song and never wears the same costume twice. He spends hours perfecting each routine, song, dance and costume. He makes his own outfits from thrift store finds, spending up to two and a half hours on his makeup, crafting himself and transforming into his character: Martha Murder.
For his performance on Thursday, Levitt performed in a dress he made from garbage bags - but by the time he put on the dress, he was already in the mindset of Martha Murder.
Levitt, a senior theater design major, participated in last Thursday's UB-A-Drag Amateur Drag show held in the Center For the Arts Black Box Theatre. The event, part of LGBTA Awareness Week, showcased amateur and professional drag queens and kings from around the Buffalo area.
Levitt said the idea of drag has changed in the last four years, gaining popularity from the show RuPaul's Drag Race, which has made it a mainstay in the gay culture today. He said he loves doing shows for the performance art. For Levitt, though, the transformation into Martha Murder is more than just makeup and an outfit.
"For me, it's about my state of mind," Levitt said. "It's where I put myself. I can be Martha in and out of drag. It's sort of just a swap in the head space for me. The more in makeup I am, the more I can see myself as Martha. But if I have to think as her to figure out what my song choice is, I'll do it."
Levitt taught himself how to do his makeup by experimenting and watching RuPaul's Drag Race. He said playing around with his makeup taught him what works for him. While he is not normally into watching YouTube makeup tutorials, Levitt said he recently watched a video on how to glue his eyebrows down because his usual routine wasn't working. Thursday marked Levitt's first performance in the UB-A-Drag show.
"I sort of enjoy being part of the subversive community - actually, I entirely enjoy it," Levitt said. "There's a danger in what we do. There's nothing safe about saying: 'I want to put on a ton of makeup and lipstick today and go walk out in heels.' I've walked into liquor stores in full drag before, and [people have] tried to subversively take pictures of me and I'm like: 'No, no, no - keep [taking pictures].'"
Paris Canty, a sophomore psychology major and the treasurer for UB's LGBTA, performs at UB whenever there is a show. Canty likes that he can transform his entire body into something that wasn't there originally. When he first started out, Canty said it took him 30 to 40 minutes, but today it takes him almost two hours to transform into his character, Diamond.
"Basically [when I started out], I put on foundation, eye shadow, and that was it," Canty said. "I didn't contour. When you first start out, it's really immature. It's like foundation, and then lipstick and you think: 'Oh, it's done'... This is not something you can just say: 'Oh, I'm just going to do drag today.'"
Junior global gender studies major Chrys Patterson is a member of the LGBTA. She performed in the show as her character, Aurore Saint Laurent, and said each performer does drag differently. Patterson, who is transgender, continues to perform as a female character.
She said drag is a performance in which someone who is a "cisgender" male becomes a drag queen, or females usually become drag kings. Patterson said it's slightly complicated now that she is not a cisgender male.
"My stage name as it stands is Aurore Saint Laurent," Patterson said. "I feel like that's going to change and I'm going to kill her off. There's really no real need for me to do drag under that kind of name because since I am trans, it's a little weird now that I do drag, because it's not like I am guy dressing up in drag because I'm on hormones. So it's a little bit different, but I still enjoy it and that's how I usually look at getting myself done."
One of the show's professional drag queens was Veronica Lace, a man who performs as a woman, who said she loves the competition of pageants and shows, in which people can be creative with their designs. She loves that someone can create a whole other person with their makeup. Lace said people, especially those in the gay community, don't understand why she enjoys doing drag shows and pageants.
"There's a lot of straight people [who] ask me if I want to become a woman and that's not true," Lace said. "I look at makeup and my face as a blank canvas. There's a big difference between drag and trans. Trans people do drag, too, but there's still a big difference. A lot of people misconstrue that."
Lace said she travels around the country for different shows, performing as characters such as Ke$ha, Pink and Cyndi Lauper, but she tries to learn new things for her shows.
"I think drag is an evolution," Lace said. "You can do something different every single time between the makeup, songs, costume design, jewelry. Drag puts together so many forms of art like cosmetology and fashion design - there's so much involved in it."
Lace said doing drag is a hobby, and people need to keep an open mind about others performing in drag. She said drag is different all around the country and she has seen the atmospheres changing when at different drag shows. She loves doing drag and doesn't plan on quitting any time soon.
But Lace said the hardest part about being a drag queen is the dating world.
"Most people don't want their boyfriend to dress up in drag, because that's the most emasculating thing," Lace said. "But my family's been OK with it. They've been really supportive. They love it - it's a form of me expressing my creativity. I have older brothers who can draw and paint. I can't do any of that, but I can do makeup. My friends, they love it. Some of them think it can be a little much and it's an expensive hobby, but they support it."
Megan Ptak, a sophomore psychology major, performed for the first time on Thursday as Dustin Beaver. Ptak wasn't sure if she would continue to perform, but she wanted to try it at least once. Ptak said it takes much less time to transform into a drag king than a drag queen.
"While some kings do put on makeup, it's definitely not as much as queens," Ptak said. "I feel like once you get it down, for a lot of kings, it's really easy. Whereas queens are usually always evolving, always changing what they're doing, always trying to improve. And then when they aren't and when they're doing their normal makeup, it takes like two hours. It's ridiculous. It took me 20-30 minutes."
Ptak said that, as a member of the LGBTA community, it's her job to educate people on what the organization is all about. She said there are always students on campus who oppose what the group stands for, but all of her friends are completely supportive of her decision to do drag.
Lace is excited to see the next generation of drag. She said she enjoys how drag can be anything you want it to be.
"You don't always have to wear tits and be glamorous," Lace said. "It's all about what you want it to be. Drag is fun - make it your own. Sometimes your makeup might not be the best, but at least it's your idea of what you want to be. I love it."
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