JACK SCREW
(Jack) Yeah, so outside of drag I’m Ellis. They and he pronouns. In drag, Jack Screw—he/him, sometimes she. We’ll see. Yeah, he’s more fluid for sure.
(Jack) I am 23 years old.
(Jack) I am from Long Island, New York.
(Jack) A little over a year. Not very long, but I grew up really close to New York. So yeah, I’ve known it a good while.
(Jack) Absolutely. I really started off the creation of this character with thinking about what emotion I wanted the audience to feel… what is his purpose? I feel like drag is such an emotive and conversational art form. That I thought like ‘what type of energy do I want to bring?’ and ‘how do I want people to feel?’
(Jack) Um, and I knew I wanted to bring a sense of like wonder and adventure and whimsy but also have a more comical side, have a more sexy side… And I wanted it to be masculine. That was my goal—to have like interesting, adventurous, whimsical, sexual masculinity, which one doesn’t really see out in the world from a man!
(Jack) Yeah, so it’s like a type of safe masculinity that is masculine—
(Jack) But not that of a man.
(Jack) Absolutely. I identify as a lesbian. That is my culture. Yes, for sure. I think sometimes I fag out a bit, you know? I am also a gay man, but I’m actually just a lesbian the whole time. And I feel like that also is so linked to my gender. I feel like being a butch lesbian, being a trans masc butch, is my gender identity. I feel really in community with trans boys, trans guys—I’m not a binary trans man. I share some of those experiences. I enjoy that community. At the end of the day, I’m transmasc butch.
JACK SCREW
(Jack) Yes, I at first really viewed him as this experiment because I started doing drag when I began to really lean into like the transgender part of my identity. Before that it was very “I'm non-binary I don't really know if I want to like I use they/them pronouns”. I didn't know if I wanted to feel like I was transitioning capital T... and Jack was sort of an experimentation in masculinity and just really studying movement and energy and presentation just for the heck of it to try it on and see how it felt. And I did sort of have the ulterior motive to see how it felt on my own body.
So in that way, he was an experiment and I think he's a separate entity another soul that inhabits this vessel. And I think it was really fun to create him and then do drag and then think you know, I kind of like this. Yeah, I kind of like walking like that. I kind of like the way the mustache looks and then actualizing that later in that way we're more connected. But he's a friendly entity… Hmm a friendly soul in this body.
(Jack) Oh like who was in the driver's seat?
(Jack) No, I think about that a lot.
(Jack) Oh, absolutely, I think I created Jack. Jack would not exist without me as Ellis, but I definitely like gave over control to that ‘experiment’. Yeah in a way that gave him sway and power and it is really fun. I haven't done this in a while to be honest because it feels this is like a whole other thought.
I really enjoyed it when I started doing drag it was very much like you would jump into your persona and there are a lot of people who wouldn't even know my name other than Jack and you had so much more freedom to explore that whereas now… There are definitely venues I could go to and I'm unknown completely and I could be Jack fully… But places where I am comfortable, I'm known as myself. So it's harder to fully become something different because there's always some element of being known as yourself, so I miss that and so and that way I feel like I'm always sort of me doing a character. Yeah But I'd like for it to not always be that way.
JACK SCREW
(Jack) Yeah. Um, I like to call it my birth. Because it felt more like a birth than like a debut. The first time I really performed in drag it felt very intimate and very like… like… I think of my debut performance that's something and I think of my birth performance as something different. I remember so clearly my birth performance was at a party that was thrown by a friend of mine who was in the drag collective that I was a part of and it was everyone in the drag collective and we were all at someone's college house and we put up these decorations and it was like before or after a big show.
And I think I was just like not ready, or I didn't perform. Yeah, it was like too big. But we had this party and a handful of us did performances and I did one and tt was to ‘Good-looking Boy’ by Suki Waterhouse, and it was so fucking fun. I was shitting my pants. Yeah, until I started and I was like stripping and I was crawling. It was so fun to do that and feel like ‘yeah, of course I can do this’, like this isn't embarrassing.
Yeah, this is so liberating and fun and that was my birth. That was Jack.
(Jack) It was very minimal. That's why it feels distinct like it wasn't even a full performance because I had a basic beat, you know my basic Jack look with the contour and the facial hair and eyeliner. But the rest of the whole thing was barely a costume.
I think I was pretty shirtless taped… I don't even know what pants I was wearing. I know I wasn't wearing shoes. I was inside.
JACK SCREW
(Jack) So, um That's a tough one because I feel like I have two sides of Jack that I enjoy. One would be the performance I did at the last Qamp show…. Like very statement-making… Dramatic… like I thought about doing ‘Wonder’ by Shawn Mendes to doing a t-shot for so long and that felt very quintessential.
(Jack) Yeah, but it's particular.
(Jack) Yeah, and I don't know another just like go-to song. I honestly need that. I need a go-to mix That's what I'm working on now because I need something that I can just whip out.
That's a good balance of fun. Yeah, well choreographed too. Mm-hmm… Easy to execute.
(Jack) I don't know. I don't know yet, but something kind of upbeat ironically sexy… so kind of like what you might do with the next one. Yes. Yeah but I'm also not putting that much finesse into this next one, but yeah, I like yeah vibe. But I'm also terrified of things not being choreographed. I want to be nonchalant so bad… Unfortunately, I'm so chalant …
(Jack) Easy, I feel like I'm gonna start with the frustration because it's easier and I don't End on complaining.
(Jack) Yeah, but what gets me is the fact that you have to do every single part. And you could, you know, take choreo inspiration—you could, yeah, just use a single song—but to do what I consider to be like a full-on drag performance with a mix? You need to learn how to mix it. You have to master it and send it to the right person in the right format. You have to choreograph it. And you need to do your makeup. And you need your costume. And it’s just like—it can feel insurmountable if there’s one part you’re not super comfortable on.
And I felt that for a little while, where I’m like, “I don’t know how to move. I don’t know how to dance. How am I supposed to do a whole thing?” So that’s frustrating—but that’s also one of the best parts about it. Yeah. There’s so much flexibility. You can just do it from scratch. And I love that there’s no way to do it incorrectly. That’s the most liberating thing for me. Yeah, I spent a lot of my youth doing competitive orchestra, and I was a competitive violinist. Bad times.
Yeah, and it’s like—that is so restrictive. It’s all about perfection, and perfect timing, and posture, and positioning. You have to breathe at the right time. Mm-hmm. Drag is the complete opposite of that. Mm-hmm. And some of my favorite drag is quote-unquote imperfect—where people just let it go, just freestyle, interact with the crowd. You can never predict how that goes.
Like—oh! The exchange. The energy exchange is unlike any other type of performance or art, where a lot of times there’s this conception of being respectable when you are in a separate place. To break that? Incredible energy. Oh, it’s so energizing. That’s my favorite thing.
JACK SCREW
(Jack) Absolutely. I am thinking a lot about the early studying I did of drag. I was so fortunate to have learned from Lahore—I just love, oh, I do love her.
And she, in and out of drag, is so brilliant. And, you know, she instilled in all of the children that drag is super political. And it cuts to the intersection of all your identities. I have loved exploring how I can amplify that. My drag mother produces an all–Southeast Asian annual performance that I help out at, and I love to see that. And I think, what can I do that uplifts my culture?
I think Jack is Jewish too, and I want to get into figuring that out more. Yeah. I like to do drag that I feel drawn to do for political reasons.
Like, I wanted to do that performance where I did T for a really long time. I was like, “Yeah, now is the time.” And it felt very much like—oh yes, I’ve been thinking about this, and this is a part of my identity that I want to showcase. And how can I achieve a message through something fun? I wanted to communicate the power of community, and hearing other people’s shared experiences on social media, and using that as power to self-actualize. I wanted to communicate how empowering HRT is—and how easy it is. And doing that through performance felt very ripe.
And that’s something I was really proud of, because that is always what I’m trying to communicate: some form of liberation, or a feeling of freeness. Even if it’s just, look at me doing masculinity in a way—yeah—that is safe, and inviting, and different for us all to experience.
(Jack) Yes. And I think some people take it to heart more than others. And I think, like, the idea of escapism can be powerful. And I love drag that’s super escapist—super just like, mm-hmm. Like, I remember going to see a drag performance after… after Inauguration. Yeah. And—this was at Stonewall—and I don’t remember which queen it was. Oh, one of the usuals. Doing her ’70s disco, windmill-pose, death-droppy shit.
And then she stopped halfway through and was like, “Hey guys…” I don’t even know what she said, but it was essentially like, “Oh, I know—it’s a crazy, weird night, right?” And everyone was like, “Yeah!” And then—oh my god, I forget what song she did. It was so good. I think it was one of those ’80s power ballads.
One of those… like—it wasn’t I Will Survive, but it was something like that. Maybe it was I Will Survive! And it was a thing, because—yeah—it was so… You know, she continued her spiel of the classic drag queen, mm-hmm, whatever—park and bark, lip-sync with your mouth all fucking weird, your glittery dress—but she acknowledged, like, we’re in this tough moment, and I’m gonna sing us a power ballad.
So powerful to just acknowledge, “We’re in this tough time, and I’m gonna do my drag thing, and just sit with the emotions. And we’re gonna escape to the disco times.” So you can do it like that. Yeah. And you don’t have to hit someone over the head with like, “I’m literally doing HRT to prove that it’s accessible and beautiful.” You can just go up there and say, “You know what? We’re having a shit time. Yeah. I look great. Sing it with me now.” Like—I love that.
(Jack) Yeah, on the floor just gazing up. Tears, tears—it was so good. Power drag—the power of drag—and the power of someone being like… You know, I know this is a little silly goofy to do right now, but yeah, fuck it like.