Files
Abstract
This dissertation is an ethnographic study of live, local drag performance. Drag artists typically lip-sync or sing to recorded popular music, while using gender impersonation or an exaggerated gender presentation for the entertainment of an audience. While the majority of drag queens are male-identified entertainers performing in female personas, and likewise the majority of drag kings female-identified entertainers performing in male personas, the art form is not limited to these combinations of identities. Drag performance encompasses acting, dance, gendered movement, comedy, precision timing, and stage presence. Music is a fundamental, though under-examined, element of drag performance. Whether the performers are lip-synching or singing live, choices about music are central to their acts, guiding all other aspects such as costumes, wigs, style of makeup, props, and choreography. I investigate the ways in which these artists make decisions about music, both for development of the stage persona and for connection with an audience. Much of the scholarly work on drag focuses on the aspect of cross-gender performance. In this project I am not theorizing drag, identity construction, gender, or embodiment. As I set out to describe and understand the meanings that drag performance holds for its practitioners, I found that for the artists, drag is not necessarily about gender; gender presentation is merely one aspect of the medium. In the midst of the diversity across the art form, I have identified three core elements that are common to nearly all styles of drag: music, identity, and power. Storytelling through music is at the heart of the genre. However, there is still significant prejudice and stigma associated with gender boundary-crossing, particularly when those assigned male at birth adopt a feminine persona. Despite personal risk, many practitioners find it empowering to do drag. In a case study, I present a community that finds power in and because of their marginalized identities, even using drag to accomplish social justice work.