4 minute read
Pushing The Boundaries Of Beauty, One Drag Show at a Time
“We are entertaining our community and allowing our entertainers to explore the boundaries of beauty, sexuality and gender presentation.” —SUE HAAS, CO-OWNER OF BEAUTY BEYOND DRAG
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEVIN HUVER; LOCATION COURTESY OF HARMONY HALL BREWERY
PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES OF BEAUTY, ONE DRAG SHOW AT A TIME
Growing up in West Michigan, Bradley Haas never thought one day he would direct and produce drag shows for a living.
“It all started as a pipe dream,” Bradley explained.
A pipe dream that began when he started attending local drag shows in Grand Rapids. Captivated by
BY MICHELLE JOKISCH POLO
the con dence of the drag queens and kings he saw performing, he knew he wanted to take part in the spectacle. Drag is not just for cisgender men (the term cisgender refers to people whose gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth), although their stories and personnas are the ones typically seen on television. Bradley never felt like he t in the traditional drag scene.
“I started doing drag when I was 18 but I wasn’t your cookie-cutter “pretty girl” in the scene and that was hard for me. I didn’t feel like I t in,” he added. It was those experiences that inspired Bradley to dream of an allinclusive drag production company.
“We have entertainers from every walk of life,” Bradley shared. “We allow a queen with a big old beard to come into our stage. We don’t make them shave their chests. We let them be who they are in getting into their characters.”
It was Bradley’s mother, Sue Haas, who rst believed in his dream and encouraged him to make it a reality.
“Brad’s very rst show was at Tip Top Deluxe Bar and Grill in the westside of Grand Rapids in 2018 and after seeing how the crowds reacted to the show, I knew he had something there” Sue said. With a background in business, Sue knew exactly what to do.
“I told Brad to create proposals and reach out to venues in town and o er their services while I would help in the behind the scenes,” she explained.
Two months later, they teamed up to form Beauty Beyond Drag.
Sue says she never really imagined she would start, what likes to call, “an oddball business” with her son.
“I’ve always been very business-oriented, and I always wanted to have a family business. As far as the logistics of the business itself ... Brad is phenomenal at social media and marketing, and I am the business end as far as
“We have over 70 entertainers at Beauty Beyond Drag and every single one of them is unique and talented in di erent ways,” He added. Producing the show involves developing close relationships with each performer involved and selecting the music. One of the common misconceptions people have about drag, explains Sue, is that its about sex.
“We are not selling sex. We are entertaining our community and allowing our entertainers to explore the boundaries of beauty, sexuality and gender presentation,” she shared.
For Bradly, the work he does with Beauty Beyond Drag is about remembering the legacy of trans women and drag queens, Marsha P. Johnson and Silvia Rivera. Johnson was a Black trans rights activist, sex worker and drag queen who was among the very rst people to resist the police during the famous Stonewall riots in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Rivera was also a transwoman and drag queen in New York City at the same time as Johnson.
After Stonewall, Johnson and Rivera co-founded Start or Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries to help homeless young drag queens and transwomen of color. e word transvestite refers to a person, typically a man, who derives pleasure from dressing in clothes traditionally work by the opposite sex. Today, the word transvestite is considered a derogatory term.
“I think when you put on drag, you basically turn into
PHOTOGRAPHY BY A PAIGE PHOTOGRAPHY
a superhero. You advocate for a lot of people that don’t have voices,” Bradley said. “A lot of the times when you see protests for LGBTQ+ rights, the drag queens are in the front lines.”
It’s this passion for advocacy for the most marginalized that is taking Beauty Beyond Drag in a cross country tour with Drag Syndrome, a world-renowned drag collective made up of kings and queens with Down’s Syndrome. To along on their upcoming cross-country tour or attend an upcoming show visit, facebook.com/ BeautyBeyondDrag.
Michelle Jokisch Polo is a Grand Rapidian transplant from El Salvador & Ecuador. She loves asking questions and will take any opportunity to do so. She is passionate about creating spaces where intersectionality is encouraged and marginalized voices are elevated. Besides speaking Spanglish on a regular basis, she enjoys writing, drinking coffee, taking walks, reading poetry and riding her bike.
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