An alum of Anchors Aweigh, Coney Island Sideshow & Disasterpiece Theater and who wields hooks and needles in her shows, this Dark Priestess of Purgatory is keeping Brooklyn hot for all the children throughout the rest of the summer and beyond: Selena Surreal! [Cover photo: Carson Stachura]
Thotyssey: Hello Selena, thanks for chatting tonight! I see you started August properly with a turn at Purgatory’s recurring event “Black Cherry Sideshow!” How did that go?
Selena Surreal: It went so well! This was our fourth one, and the show grows so much with each show in a really exciting way. I’m really filled with so much happiness every month performing with the troupe: Xaddy Addy, Oliver Herface and Klondyke and all the amazing special guests we had over the summer!
Black Cherry is the first all BIPOC sideshow ever, and also the first all Trans sideshow troupe ever. It’s every first Saturday at Purgatory, so next one is September 7th. Tickets are already on sale! It’s also going to be the first show since May where the entire troupe is there. At the last three shows, at least one of the cast but me has had to miss it, so this will be our first one all back together again!
You do quite a few events at Purgatory, which is like Brooklyn’s hub for queer punk and alt-drag vibes. What is it about the venue that you connect with so well?
Oh my, Purgatory itself pulled me in! The first time I went to see a show there (shoutout “Sylvester,” one of my favorite shows in Brooklyn and a huge inspiration), I was taken aback by how performers could interact with the space itself–the hallway, the stairs to the mezzanine, the runway. It’s like the entire place is a stage, and the stage itself has all the trappings of a big theater, but in an intimate DIY space. I knew I wanted to see what was happening here and make art there. Also it’s like a ten minute walk from my apartment, which is phenomenal.
I really love the space; I’ve been performing and producing there fairly consistently for a bit over a year, filling in occasionally for Xaddy Addy as host of the biweekly open set “Another One” here and there, and any other shows there that’ll have me!
Can you tell us a bit about where you’re originally fun, and how you began as an artist prior to drag?
I’ve been in the Brooklyn performance art scene under some name and / or gender or another since about 2015. I started as a body suspension practitioner–piercing hooks into flesh and hanging off of them. I actually suspended for the first time in 2012, but didn’t join a collective until 2015 with a group called Anchors Aweigh. We would host private suspension and do events. I worked the Coney Island Sideshow “Torture Garden.” And even once, I was a body double for a hook suspension bit on a throwaway Adult Swim show.
But the biggest thing we put on was an art installation called the “Skin Project,” which premiered in different forms yearly from 2015 to 2019 three times in NYC, once in Philly and then in LA (which I sadly missed).”Skin” was this huge art installation of fractal rope structures with people hanging from hooks in the center of them. I was part of the installation, and then on the crew the rest of the latter years excluding LA.
From there, I started helping out around Disasterpiece Theater, a circus sideshow variety show that ran monthly at Bizarre Bar and then The Deep End pre-Covid, as well as doing live play-piercing demos with my dear friends Jin and Gia at various parties and fetish events. Right before shutdown, I really started focusing primarily on doing sideshow… which evolved into the drag I do now!
You must need to have very, um, thick skin for body suspension! Is it crazy painful?
Lol! You’d be surprised how much weight a single hook in skin can take–300 pounds to be approximate–trust me, I’ve tested it (successfully and unsuccessfully, lol). Some areas are intense and a bit “spicy”–which is the term we use–like your chest or ribs. But the back just feels like an intense pressure. It’s mostly the mental part of it, and once you get past that you can reach levels of peace and equilibrium… like, being completely weightless in a beautiful, inhuman way. When I used to suspend a lot, I would hang off of my knees often… I think I’m one of the only people to hang off just one hook in each knee over 200 pounds (I was a bodybuilder / powerlifter then, lol). I tried it once with one hook / one knee, but that was the unsuccessful attempt I had with one hook. I did get off the ground… and I got a decent scar to show for it, lol.
So, some might argue that drag today has gotten kind of formulaic–Drag Race’s mainstreaming of the genre could be blamed in part for that (also, audiences small attention spans, etc.) Do you think more risky and edgy elements like these circus / sideshow tricks are gonna become more necessary to keep drag interesting?
Oh, absolutely. I feel like what audiences expect at the shows is just the 5-6-7-8 Drag Race stuff, which at this point we’ve all seen, and can be boring. Don’t get me wrong, some of the 8-count divas blow me away… mostly cause I’m like, “damn jump spilt, I can’t do that.” But I think if we want the artform of drag to keep being entertaining–and for it to maintain some semblance of the counterculture it was birthed from–there needs to be weird, risky, edgy drag. The bar has been moved; it’s not subversive to just be in drag anymore.
Have you had a favorite drag performance moment of your own?
That’s a tough question! as of late, the last two pincushion numbers I did, a new one at “Black Cherry,” and one of my favorites at the “Metal Menagerie” event where both times the preset needles in my forehead bled over my eye and down my face like a perfect tear after I pulled them out. Having it happen two times in a row felt like the universe giving me a little gift. Also the entirety of “Schmear,” the bagel show, was pretty special!
Blood and bagels! Well, this Sunday, you might have a whole new favorite event to add to the list. You’ll be at Rubulad as part of a drag rendition of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “Alas Poor Brat,” hosted by Mx. Ology! How’s this gonna work?
Oh my God, yes, Brat x Hamlet. It’s the start of a week of shows for me, and I didn’t imagine it would get so big! Mx. Ology is a beautiful maniac and I love them; they have created a full spin show of Brat that is also Hamlet, with parts of the play in between. It’s exactly what it sounds like… Hamlet set to the music of Brat!
And on Monday, you’ll be back at Purgatory for another show called “Servecus!”
Yes! “Servecus” is the creation of Lie-luh and coproduced by TK the Kid (in-house producer at Purg) and myself. It’s going to be a cunty cabaret-esque circus themed show with everyone filling various circus roles, Lie-luh as the Ringleader, Sweaty Eddie as The Contortionist, Uncle Freak as The Clown, Amygdala as The Fortune Teller, Xana Whoria as The Magician, TK as the band and myself as The Strong Woman. It’s going to be a high energy, very strange and sultry time!
The you’re continuing your Purgatory run on Wednesday, August 21, hosting “The Surrealist Hour.”
I’m so excited for that one, too! “The Surrealist Hour” is a cursed talk show staring TK and myself featuring some of Brooklyn’s alt icons: MTHR TRSA, Silly Brown and Oliver Herface (my sideshow son), as well as some of my favorite newer performers Corsette and Ever. We’re gonna to be interviewing performers before some of their numbers, as well as bits. It’ll be a fun time with a strong feeling of uneasiness the whole time. It’s gonna to be a big night of drag because right after, it’ll be the “Another One” open stage hosted by Xaddy Addy and TK!
August Purgatory shows continue on Saturday the 23rd with “10PM Egg Dinner!”
Yes! Mx. Ology and I are essentially putting an experimental improv play that has shows in it. The basic premise is Mx. Ology is coming over to my apartment because I’m hosting a full-scale drag brunch with one wait staff, another queen and a DJ, but they are the only person there. It slowly falls into chaos as other characters are introduced, and the night goes on. All the lines will be improved with just a framing script–like how they create episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm. It’s very ambitious, but I think we’re gonna pull it off!
Looking ahead to September 1st, it’s another Purgatory show: “Summer in Hell 2!“
Yes, That’s a Big Drama Production, the production team of Luxury Bones, Andie Sleaze and myself! All the big drama shows are deeply immersive and theatrical, and this one is no different! It’s spearheaded by the masterminds Luxury and Andie as a follow-up to the smash hit first one at All Night Skate last August. “Summer in Hell 2” is an end of summer bash… in Hell… again! It’s gonna be a wet, wild and spooky time!
What else is coming up for you?
Well after “Summer in Hell,” I’ll be in Groovy Bluez‘ “Big Sister” Season 2 at 9 Bob Bote on the 12th.
Much to look forward to! Okay lastly… what’s your favorite item in your drag bag?
Oh, easy. My face wouldn’t look at all good without my Mintty Makeup Nudes Pallette! All the shiny highlights really gives my mug a little Uncanny Valley feel, like when it’s really hot and the road looks all shimmery.
You’re wearing the map to success! Thanks, Selena!
Check Thotyssey’s calendar for Selena Surreal’s upcoming appearances, and follow her on Instagram.
Thotyssey 