Combining drag, burlesque and killer costuming to slay the game, it’s time to give serious consideration to the merits of Tits Morality! [Cover photo: Austin D. Patterson]
Thotyssey: Hi Tits, thanks for chatting today! How was your Pride, and your 4th?
Tits Morality: Hi hi! This Pride was pretty chill performing-wise, which honestly I am grateful for! I got to, like, be a gay person in the wild. I was also able to lend some helping hands to friends’ shows, and finish up some headpiece commissions. As for the 4th, it was just another day! I’m not about celebrating the horrors this country was founded on and continues to perpetuate.
Fair! How might you describe the Tits Morality experience to the uninitiated, as far as your stage looks and performing style go?
Ooh! Well, I am first and foremost the Sapphic Enigma of Brooklyn Drag, and a proud Latina Dyke. I hand-make a lot of my drag; in a Tits look you’re gonna get some delicious textures, fun color combos, perhaps some fiber art (I’m big into crochet), hot glue and a dream.
My performance style is absurd, witchy, and full of surprises. I think of Tits as a moving sculpture and a screaming collage. I have a background in theatre / acting, so I’ll definitely give you the drama. But I’d also like to think I’m pretty funny!
Recently, I’ve been building some of my performances through more of a draglesque lens, which has been thrilling. I have so much respect for burlesque artists, and I think I have a lot to learn from them.
Let’s time travel back to the beginning! Where are you from originally, and how did Tits ultimately pop out?
I’m originally from Los Angeles. My parents described me as a “very dramatic child.” And having recently seen some old home videos, I have to agree. What can I say? I always knew how to give shows!
I grew up doing community theatre in LA, and that turned into auditioning for college theatre programs. I moved to NYC to go to school for acting, and in my senior year I took a drag class taught by God Complex. I thought, “This seems like it would be out of my comfort zone, so I should do it.”
I had developed a complicated relationship to performing in the first half of college (acting teachers can be wild, diva). God Complex’s class, and ultimately my drag practice, helped me reclaim my relationship to performing. For the first time, I felt like I had true agency as a performer. It felt electric! Drag brought together things I was already doing separate from each other: movement, directing, garment-making, devised work, etc.
Before my official Brooklyn drag debut, my goal was to see as much drag as possible. A show that really stuck with me was Switch ‘n Play’s VAMP at Lincoln Center. For the entire show my mouth was agape, and I would just look over at my friend and we’d giggle or cry or remind each other to breathe. Miss Malice’s hot-pink lesbian vampire number to Melissa Etheridge’s “Come to My Window” particularly changed my brain chemistry. This past spring, I got to perform in Switch ‘n Play’s NOOBIES. It was surreal and such a full-circle moment.
Is there a story behind how your name?
It came to me in a dream!
I’ve noticed in just the last few years a growing number of cis female drag perfomers who identify as being part of the “dyke drag scene” (like I’m Baby’s “Dyke Drag” party) with shows catering to sapphic and gay women. As an Old, my memories are that it was quite rare to see female presenting drag catered specifically to queer women, but now even Henrietta Hudson has its own sapphic drag monthly! Was drag always appealing to lesbians and queer women, or was there a more recent shift?
Dykes have been doing drag and loving drag for a long, long time! When I was first coming up, I was lucky to have dyke drag artists to look up to (see above, re: Malice’s lesbian vampire number). And when I met I’m Baby, the incredible host of Dyke Drag at Ginger’s, they told me about this book their co-producer Kayla found— It’s by Denise Gaylord & Midge Battelle and it’s called Provincetown Dyke Drag Brunch. It has photos from the 90s where dykes in their 50s were dressing up in drag! Like, so sickening.
That’s just one historic example of dykes doing drag for their community of dykes, but there’s absolutely more. I mean, there’s a storied history of drag kings, some of whom are dykes, some of whom are trans, some of whom do not necessarily identify as being part of the dyke community at all. There’s all kinds of drag performers, but I wish more people knew that dykes have always had a place in the drag world.
I do believe that being a dyke drag artist is very intertwined with uplifting and celebrating the trans community. A lot of folks in these spaces are not cis. You look at the lineups and audiences of “Dyke Drag” at Ginger’s and “The D Word” at Henrietta Hudson and yes, you will see dykes, and trans people within that community who are dykes or dyke-adjacent. We are nothing without our trans siblings, dykes or otherwise!
Major shoutout to I’m Baby and Pachacunti, who host Dyke Drag and The D Word respectively, for making those spaces feel like home to so many. I’ve had the pleasure of doing both of their shows and will be joining Dyke Drag again for brunch at Bareburger this Sunday, July 12! P.S. If you’re a cis gay guy, go to these shows! You will have a good time!
I think it’s so interesting that Bareburger in Hell’s Kitchen has become a recent hub for bear and sapphic events. What can folks expect from this Sunday’s Dyke Drag Brunch?
Oh, it’s gonna be so fab! We’re each doing three numbers— I’m doing a classic Tits number and some new stuff as well. It’ll culminate in a roulette… so you might even get a duet from us, who’s to say?! And of course, there will be delicious food and drinks. It’s brunch, baby! You can go to bed early!
Then on Sunday July 19th, you’ll be part of a multimedia drag show at C’mon Everybody care of producer Andie Sleaze: “Audio Visual!”
Eeee, yes! I am so very excited for this one. Andie is one of my besties, so I’m firstly just excited to perform with him again. We are all going to be working with projections to some degree, and incorporating other facets of our artistic practices into our acts. For example, I’ve crocheted something sickening for one of my numbers— it’s like a sea creature showgirl kind of vibe. I’m new to working with projections, so I’m doing a lot of experimenting, but Andie has so generously edited some of my visuals already. I’m just so pumped! I really hope folks come out for this one. It will be so worth it.
Have great shows! And finally: what’s the most essential item in your drag bag?
Safety pins! You literally never know…
Ta ta, Tits!
Check Thotyssey’s calendar for Tits Morality’s upcoming appearances, and follow her on Instagram.
Thotyssey 