PACHACUNTI
on first performances

(Ruby) Um, can you remember the first time you did a drag performance or you like, you've gotten into drag or like what? I don't even know. I think anything that you think counts for that. So, you know what I mean?

(Pacha) This is one of my favorite things, or I think it's really funny because every drag performer you talk to will have like five different anniversaries.

So I think of myself as having like the first time I got into drag, which was like somewhere between May and July of 2023. And then my first, and then I got COVID. And so I couldn't perform. Um, and then thank you Hush Bar and Hell's Kitchen for giving me COVID. Sorry, the name dropped. 

But my first performance was on August 1st, 2023. And I had a blue face and a pink wig. That was a hard front that I'd had for like four years at that point. 

And my parents came and I was underage. 
And my twin came who was also underage. And I did Brick House by the Commodores because it was my mom's favorite song. 

And I was like, but I was like, there is a very small chance that I'm going to get on stage and hate this. So I might as well do something that my mom will enjoy, but it was awesome. And I loved it. And, um, and then I would proceed to have like five more anniversaries of like the first time I like felt like I was doing drag like consistently. And then the first time that I did drag where my makeup looked okay. And then the first time that I did drag and I had my eyebrows blocked.
(Ruby) What did your makeup look like the first time? Like, what is the, what is the blue light that you're talking about? It's like Blue Man Group vibes.

(Pacha) It was like a light blue. That was like an almost purple. It was, I didn't have foundation and I was kind of scared of foundation. Cause like, I didn't know I, I was that trans masc kid who was in theater. And when they would put makeup on my face for the shows, I would actually start crying.

So I had like really zero makeup exposure outside of like theater and also like playing around with shitty drag in middle school. Um, cause I was really into drag race in middle school. 

Um, there's a picture of me and my best friend from middle school at a Bianca Del Rio show. And I'm literally 14. And so, and I was like under five feet and I'm standing next to Bianca Del Rio, who's like probably over six feet tall. And I'm wearing a shirt. I'm wearing a shirt with her face on it that we screen printed at home. Um, it was crazy. 

But so I was really into drag in middle school. But like, there's like a six month stretch in my early drag career where I could say any of those days was the first time I was doing drag.