It was past the start time and nothing was happening on stage, when a man in a tracksuit sitting in the front row started applauding rapidly as a show of impatience and protest, leading the rest of the audience to follow suit.
After several minutes of this, the man stood up, took off the track suit to reveal the first of four layers of costumes underneath – and over the next hour, Edu Diaz performed “A Drag Is Born,” a wordless, um…drag act, I guess, although nothing like you’ve seen on RuPaul’s Drag Race or Kinky Boots or at Lips or…anywhere. Mute vignettes meant to embody self-discovery and the struggle toward self-acceptance are paired with labyrinthine costume changes and reveals: Over the course of the hour, Diaz peels off an elegant pair of arm-length silver gloves to reveal a similar pair of black gloves underneath, then peels to a red pair below that, then to green, then finally to his hairy arms.
Diaz performed “A Drag Is Born” on the final day this week of EdFest, a new theater festival of fringe shows at The Tank in New York, and will be performing it next month at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the oldest and by far the largest festival of fringe shows in the world. It was one of twelve shows in EdFest. It will be one of a reported 3,352 shows in Edinburgh.
Whether or not the show finds its audience in Scotland, thanks to “A Drag Is Born,” Edu Diaz has been reborn: “I feel like I’m doing an exorcism. I’m exhausted but I’m also liberated.”
“A Drag Is Born” began as a five-minute sketch at The Tank two years ago, as part of a variety show celebrating Gay Pride Month. Encouraged by the initial reaction, Diaz kept with it, performing it in one venue after another in New York, and then in Orlando and L.A., with each new venue adding a bit more time (from five to ten to twenty…to a full hour) and a lot more accessories.
But how he got to those first five minutes is itself a story. He grew up in the Canary Islands, trained as a classical and Method actor, and moved to New York in 2019 after receiving a Fulbright grant. He worked on a play inspired by his grief at the death of his parents. Already a stress-inducing endeavor, he says it became unbearable because of what he calls the increasingly erratic and abusive behavior of the director, who resorted to homophobic slurs and even physical confrontations. “We were working with very sensitive material, and I got increasingly scared doing rehearsals.”
The experience, he says, was triggering. “I began looking back at my life as a queer person. At the same time, I didn’t want to do Method acting any more. I was sick of that intensity. I said ‘Ok, I need to find another approach to acting.’ I found a clown community in New York City, and that’s what shaped the story. I began to explore my vulnerability in a healthier way. This time, I didn’t want to speak. I didn’t need words.”
He sees what he has come up with as a serious work of theater, but the audience frequently laughed during the performance I attended. This is not what he wants, especially during “dramatic moments,” but “I can’t control or manipulate the audience. I’m really up for whatever happens in the moment.”
Diaz sees the Edinburgh Fringe Festival production as “the logical next step.” But not just logical: “It’s now or never, because I don’t know if I’ll have the strength in the future.”
There is one advantage he has in mounting his show in Edinburgh. Visitors are advised, because of the city’s unpredictably changing weather, to wear layers. “That’s very convenient for me.”
A Drag is Born will be presented at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival’s ZOO Playground August 1 to 24
Excerpt from the Script of “A Drag Is Born”
When the stage lights up, the Man puts himself together. He notices that he just exploded in front of an audience and feels overwhelmed and great. He thanks the audience and takes his backpack to leave the theater.
13. THE INNER BOX
But when he takes his backpack to leave, the instrumental version of ‘You Only Live Twice’ is played again. The Man looks at the audience. This play never ends, or what? Inside the backpack, he notices something strange. A heavy box he ́s been carrying all his life. He takes it out. When he opens the box, a powerful source of light floods his face. He is amazed. And emotional. Because what is inside the box has always been there and neglected by him. In the climactic moment of the song, he pulls out an old and dusty rainbow flag that he puts on with pride like a cape. He is about to leave, but returns to the stage to take home the wig and the white cape. He leaves the theatre, absolutely transformed, embracing himself as wonderful as he is. The End.
