汪妲‧螺絲：芝加哥變裝皇后系列 WANDA SCREW: Drag Landscapes - Chicago

Wanda Screw was born in the small rural industrial town of Kankakee, Illinois, a town just south of the suburbs of Chicago. Raised by two incredibly involved parents, Wanda grew up in the theatre circuit in the outlying districts of Chicago. It was a dichotomous environment in the sense that it was a conservative Catholic place, but it also offered the non conservative elements of theatre and the arts.

“I used to do Britney Spears shows in my garage when I was young. I had a total Britney Spears phase in 2nd grade. “Oops I did it again” came out when I was 8 or 10 years old… and my parents would watch these shows I did, and yet they were surprised when I came out as gay. I mean, if you don’t have to think about that stuff in Kankakee then it doesn’t exist. But I would put on all sorts of shows.. and I was always putting something together, whether it was about some movie or based off of a book. I would lip sync and dance around my garage for my parents with the neighborhood kids. At that time, it was more about theatre.. even I didn’t know it was drag at the time.. I didn’t know that drag was a possibility then.”

A strong connection to Chicago was forged early, through frequent trips to the city, with their parents. There were also long stays with theatre troops in Chicago at summer camp in their early years. It was no wonder the burgeoning talent would end up at the prestigious college of Northwestern University for their craft. During the end of their time at Northwestern, Wanda ended up hanging out with a fellow student, Lucky Stiff. They went to drag bars around Boystown and Andersonville in Chicago. At first, Wanda resisted drag, stating “I’m not sure this is what I want to do, because I’m not sure I’m gonna go that far with my theatre”.

Sure enough, Wanda started experimenting with their knowledge of theatre make-up in drag with Samantha Piscine and Lucky Stiff, and the world opened up for them. They created the drag theatre troupe “SADHAUS”, which was born out of Samantha’s comment “I think my gender pronoun is sad”.

Wanda and SADHAUS has flourished in the realms of eccentric drag in a relatively short time. Beyond the scope of the bar scene, SADHAUS has created conceptual forms of drag on stage throughout Chicago focusing on the realms of lost love, dementia, art, villainous behavior, and teenage angst.

Wanda and SADHAUS has created a playground of drag beyond the stage.

In regards to drag, Wanda states, “Wanda is me. She isn’t a character. She’s the person that i’ve always wanted to be for a very long time. Wanda allows me to transcend limitations. Wanda helps me see more clearly. Drag has this beautiful way to connect to people. In drag, we have this ability to heal people, and I’m glad that I can be a part of that. For the future, my dream is to be able to tour and see different cities, and be in theaters and museums. I want to be a part of the artistic conversation in a wider scope that goes beyond drag and theater.”

Drag is ever evolving and ever changing. Wanda’s part in Chicago is the key element to unlocking the future of gender performance in the midwest… if not beyond globally.

Wanda Screw 出生在伊利諾伊州坎卡基的工業小鎮，這是芝加哥郊區南部的一個小鎮。 Wanda Screw 由父母撫養長大，在芝加哥外圍地區的劇院巡迴演出中長大。 從某種意義上說，這是一個多元環境，它是一個保守的天主教場所，但它也提供了戲劇和藝術的非保守元素。
“我小時候經常在我的車庫裡做小甜甜布蘭妮的表演。我共有兩個階段是非常著迷小甜甜布蘭妮。當我8歲及10歲時，我做的這些表演，但當我作為同性戀出櫃時，他們很驚訝。我的意思是，如果您不必考慮坎卡基城市中的保守元素，那麼它就不存在。 但是我會參加各種各樣的表演......而且我總是把部分東西結合在一起，無論是關於某部電影還是基於一本書。 我會為我的父母和鄰居的孩子在的車庫裡假唱和跳舞。 那個時候，更多的是關於戲劇……甚至我當時都不知道那種形式是「變裝」……那時我只是個孩子。”

通過與父母的頻繁旅行，與芝加哥建立了緊密的聯繫。 夏令營期間也有長期留在芝加哥劇院。 難怪這些嶄露頭角的人才最終會進入西北大學的名校。 在西北大學期間，Wanda與同學Lucky Stiff閒逛。他們去了芝加哥博伊斯敦附近的酒吧。 起初，Wanda Screw拒絕拖延，說“我不確定這是我想做的，因為我不確定我會離開劇院這麼遠”。

果然，Wanda Screw開始與薩曼莎·皮辛（Samantha Piscine）和幸運·斯蒂（Lucky Sti ff）一起嘗試她對戲劇化妝的了解，世界為他們打開
他們創建了變裝劇團“SADHAUS”。這個名字源於薩曼莎的評論“我認為我的性別代詞是悲傷的”。
Wanda和SADHAUS在很短的時間內，開始專研變裝領域。在酒吧場景之外，SADHAUS在整個芝加哥的舞台上創造了變裝的概念形式，專注於失戀的領域，癡呆症、不良行為和青少年焦慮症。Wanda Screw和薩德豪斯在舞台之外創造了一個變裝遊樂場。
關於變裝，Wanda Screw說：“Wanda Screw就是我。她不是一個角色。 她是我一直想成為的人。 Wanda Screw讓我超越侷限。Wanda Screw幫我看得更清楚，變裝擁有這種美麗的方式。

在變裝方面，我們有這種治癒人的能力，我很高興我能成為其中的一部分。對於未來，我的夢想是能夠遊覽和參觀不同的城市，進入劇院和博物館。我想成為其中一部分，在更廣泛範圍內與藝術對話，而不僅僅是變裝及戲劇。”