“Your drag is a character,” Marquis Gaylord tells a room of new drag artists. “Your drag persona is not you.”

Beginning drag artists sat through a crash course in character development and professionalism at “The Art of Transformation: A Beginner’s Drag Workshop” hosted by drag king Marquis Gaylord last Wednesday at No Class in Cleveland. 

Gaylord earned his bachelor’s degree in theater design, technology and production from Kent State University and has been performing drag in and around Cleveland for three years. 

The workshop featured a brief history of drag and its significance in early American theatre and vaudeville. Gaylord then explained some major tenets of drag in detail, such as using the exaggeration of physical traits, like large ruffles on clothing, and facial contouring with makeup and masking tape. Participants also completed a brainstorming activity designed to help them define their drag persona. 

Gaylord’s class encourages artists to see their drag persona as an extension of themselves, not an outward reflection of the person inside.

He spoke to Signal Cleveland about the workshop and about building his own persona in Cleveland’s drag community. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Q: What inspired you to set up the workshop? 

I’ve seen a lot of new performers coming in. They’re doing the same open stage with the same people in a non-competitive environment over and over again, and it’s just kind of a flat line, you know, they’re not moving upwards in the artistic trajectory. You’re going to need to invest in your drag. There is no classical method to teach it like there is for, like, the theater. People get taught by getting adopted, like a house mother who will teach them things. A lot of these people, they don’t have that. I don’t have any drag parents. I ended up teaching myself.

Q: What do attendees learn at the workshop? 

There’s so much to talk about, you know, from makeup, to hair, to shoes, to accessories, to stage presence, but my idea for this beginners’ workshop is, when you leave, you are going to have some very exact pointers and ideas on where to start. There’s going to be brainstorming activities. I’m creating worksheets for people to fill out to have a more guided brainstorming method of developing the drag persona. And that’s why the name of the workshop is “The Art of Transformation.” That’s another thing I haven’t been seeing with a lot of new people – there isn’t a transformation. It’s like, hey, maybe, if you come here, and we can’t tell if you’re an audience member or a performer, love and light, but there is an issue. 

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Q: You bill your show “The Odditorium” as an “alternative drag show.” Drag shows are alternative, so what makes your work the alternative to the alternative? 

I incorporate horror elements into my work, body horror elements. I love fluids. I love substances, goos and oozes and things like that. I feel like, in terms of my purpose behind [alternative] drag, is to evoke a [different] sort of reaction in the audience. For instance, a traditional queen is trying to evoke feelings and presence of beauty, awe, grace, glamor. I feel like, myself as this alternative drag king, I’m actively trying to evoke disgust, horror, [a] skin-crawling feeling.

Q: What does “the art of transformation” mean to you at this stage of your career?  

My ethos as an artist is like, if you get comfortable in your art, it’s dead in the water already. Even the queer community changes in terms of our connection with our art. I feel like when you keep up with that, that’s what keeps you fresh, new and exciting, but that’s also what challenges you as an artist. 

At the end of the day, I create for myself, and I compete with myself, and I do all this for me, because this is what I have found is giving me my artistic spark of life that brings me so much joy. That is the reason I’m able to wake up at 6 in the morning and work on drag before work, and then come home and work on drag until bed, and then get up and do it all over again, you know? 

Get on the waiting list for the next “The Art of Transformation” drag workshop. Marquis Gaylord’s next Odditorium drag show, “The Weird, Weird West” comes to No Class Thursday, May 15.