JACK SCREW
introductions (Ruby) Okay. Well, I guess for context I should just ask you to introduce yourself, sir. Your regular name, your drag name, and the pronouns that you use in drag and out of drag.

(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.

(Ruby) And how old are you?

(Jack) I am 23 years old.

(Ruby) Amazing. And where are you from?

(Jack) I am from Long Island, New York.

(Ruby) How long have you been in New York City for?

(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.
(Ruby) Mm-hmm. Okay. So first I have some questions about your drag persona. Can you give me a little bit of a description of Jack? Like what’s the personality like? How did he come to be like? Yeah, how did you conceptualize that character?
(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?’

(Ruby) Mm-hmm.
(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!

(Ruby) Yeah.
(Jack) Yeah, so it’s like a type of safe masculinity that is masculine—

(Ruby) Mm-hmm—
(Jack) But not that of a man.

(Ruby) And in relation to that, if it’s comfortable, can you describe your gender and sexual identity?
(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.