Life is a drag: Cross-dressing performance artist talks makeup, stereotypes and family

By day, Saint John residentAlex Saunders is a mild-mannered computer programmer.

By night, the 31-year-old dons stage makeup, a natty bowtie, and fake facial hair to morph into her outr, male alter ego, Justin Toodeep.

Saunders is a drag king a female performance artist who dresses in masculine drag,performinglip-syncand comedy routines that skewerstereotypical gender roles.

"Drag really allows me to show this flamboyant personality and put it all out there making fun of traditional masculinity," said Saunders, who became involved in the subculture eight years ago.

Her signature look asJustin includes super-definedeyebrows, lounge-lizard sideburns, and bow-tie and vest.

"Justin is all of my idols, plus a healthy dose of the worst qualities of real men that I've met over the years," said Saunders.

His monologues are delivered from the perspective of a garden-variety creep labouring under the misapprehension that he's a nice guy: he pressures women for hookups and harassesthem inappropriate pictures, then wonders why they won't return his calls.

The standup comedy routine climaxes with a lip-synced dance number set to The Weeknd's songCan't Feel My Face, complete with props mimicking cocaine.

It's over-the-top, broad comedy but also social commentary, according to Saunders.

"I take all of that injustice I see as a woman, pour it into the character, then spit it back out as comedy," she said. "Because all of that is so much easier to take if you can laugh at it."

Kevin Richardson meets Andy Samberg

Saunders, who in everyday life dyes her hair brilliant purple and often sports dramatic makeup, got into drag as a result of her decade-long fascination with cosplay.

She's a regular at events like Hal-Con and Fundy Fan Fest, where fans dress up as comic book and anime characters, frequently working for weeks on elaborate costumes and makeup looks.

Tired of being limited to female characters, she said, she got into "'cross-play', which is when you dress up as a character of the opposite gender," she said.

Drag "comes out of the same thing: I get to play with makeup, which I love, and with fabric and making costumes," she said.

Getting into the character as Justin, she said, takes hours of work and intense makeup contouring skills.

"I start off with a layer of base foundation, then highlight and contour my cheeks into a more masculine shape, make my jaw more square and smaller, and my chin more pronounced," said Saunders. Shefinishes off the look with light powder and sideburns drawn in with purple eyeliner.

Other drag kings, she said, use spirit gum and hair trimmings to create fake beards, or draw in the individual facial hairs with eyeliner.

"I like to look like a caricature," said Saunders. "My eyebrows are Kevin Richardson from the Backstreet Boys, and my nose is Andy Samberg."

'You'd better not show up, nanny'

Despite her bombastic performances as Justin Toodeep not being family-friendly, Saunders said her mom and dad are okay with her moonlighting as a male character.

"I was a goth in high school, and then started doing cosplay, so they're used to the weird world of Alex," she said.

"I let my family know [about drag] in bits and pieces. My mom has been to my shows. My grandmother wanted to go and asked if there was swearing in it so I told her, 'You'd better not show up, nanny.'"

Although her family "definitely thinks it's weird," she said, she feels "very fortunatethat they areso accepting."

Saunders' fiance and partner of eightyearsis also supportive.

"I am a bisexual woman and my partner is a straight man," she said.

"But he knew what he was getting into when he first signed up. Does he like making out with Justin? Nope, it makes him feel a little uncomfortable. But he lets me be me. He recognizes that this is a creative outlet for me."

Pride Week drag show

While a booming LGBTQ scene in Halifaxsupports several different venues for drag entertainment, including pageants, frequent drag king and queen shows, and appearances by internationally-renowned acts like RuPaul's Drag Race contestant Kim Chi, Saunders saiddrag in Saint John remains a fairly tiny niche.

• Fabulous FantasticStorytimea Halifax Pride first
• How becoming a drag queen changed my life

There are about a dozen drag kingsin the area, she said.

A drag showwill be held at Club Rewind on Friday as part of Pride Week in Saint John, which runs Aug. 8-13.

While it's scheduled to start at 9:30 p.m. Saunders warns, "'drag time' is an hour to half an hour later than time as regular people know it. They're divas, after all."

While Saunders enjoys the makeup and costumes, a brash, masculine stage persona has also been a way to nurture a different side of herself.

"Some trans people have used drag as a stepping stone for discovering who they are," said Saunders. "I'm not trans but this has helped me discover what kind of person Alex is."

"It's a way to get to know yourself, which is a wonderful thing."