Unmasked: An Interview with Miss Kat Sass

Hey Squirrel Friends, Were Back! Are you ready? You, are you ready! Drum roll please, I am bringing out a new Lady Queen, Drag queen or artist I am inspired by every two weeks! Lets introduce the sparkly, the talented one of my favorite Lady Queens all the way from Chicago, the talented Miss Kat Sass. 

Kat Sass is an interplanetary unicorn who also happens to be Werrrk.com's Bioqueen of the Year. She is a production designer, makeup artist, and wig designer for film, tv, and opera. She enjoys puppies, chiffon, smoothies, and gangster rap. 

I am beyond excited whenever I am able to speak to, feel inspired by and or connect with a fellow Lady Queen. Their are so many of us all around the world, each with our own unique style, personality and talents, luckily Facebook and social media gives us the ability to connect with each-other and gives us the opportunities to see each-others work and passion even if it's only virtually.

I came across Kat's work over social media and had been following her for while, feeling inspired not just by her look but also her talent, motivation, drive and her success within her community. I felt drawn to  her outspoken personality, her knowledge as well as her love for her craft and her ability to push boundaries in drag and in art. I reached out to her over Facebook and asked her if I could conduct an interview with her and here are the results.

Where does your drag name come from and what does it mean to you personally?

My drag name comes from my actual name (Katerina) and my last name is basically a dumb butt joke. What I like about it is that I think it well reflects my sparkly, snappy performance style, and that I don't take myself too seriously, 

 Tell me a little bit about your performance experience prior to drag and what made you start exploring drag?

I'm a classically trained actor and as I faced the reality that I was going to spend my career at the mercy of every director and casting agent I was like....FUCK THAT. I'll make my own work, and be my own director, producer, designer, and performer. I started doing performance art and then got cast in a drag musical, as a drag queen of sorts. I quickly became obsessed and started trying to paint and studying drag for hours everyday. 

 What is the drag scene like in Chicago?

The Chicago drag scene I think is the envy of the drag world. We are pumping out wacky, gorgeous talent at an alarming rate, and frankly when already famous drag queens move HERE to work it says everything.  

 Did you have a drag mother who mentored and coached you at all and if so how did she guide you?

My drag mother is Madame X. She is the first person who put me in drag and thank god for her couture sensibilities and playful style....without her I would definitely be a booger queen. She is pretty hands off, in a fairy godmother sort of way. I know if I ever have a question or need something, she will be there. I'm very fortunate. 

5) How would you describe your drag style/ aesthetic?

Dazzlingly Glamorous and Deeply Disgusting.  

 How would you describe your performance style?

I'm a live singer who belts my ass off in the splits in a full corset and massive shoes. I like to make bold performance choices- last month I cut off Donald Trump's head with a pizza cutter and ate his brains onstage. I recently did a dramatic Spanish fan dance as a dilaphosaruus (The spitting dinosaur.) 

Who are some of your drag inspirations?

Dolly Parton, Ursula the Sea Witch, Alexander McQueen, and Bugs Bunny. 

 I notice you sing a lot in a lot of your live performances which I do in a lot of  my performances as well. Would you say you enjoy singing more then lip syncing or vice versa?

Each presents its own challenges. People might think that because I can sing my ass off that I might look down on lip syncing...its quite untrue, really. I think a brilliant lip sync artist is a terribly exciting thing to watch...I just started lip syncing this year and it's fun and damn difficult. 

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What is your favorite performance to date and why? 

I like my live sung King George striptease from the musical Hamilton. Its gender ambiguous and has a wig reveal!

  As a woman who does drag have you ever experienced backlash, audience heckling or community outrage about your gender?

Hahahah, yes a good bit recently, because of the RuPaul twitter Bioqueen controversy. My response is not to fight any naysayers with words, but rather to produce my own shows, to make kick ass content, and to book book book! I think I am among the queens who work the most here- I put in the time and work it takes to make it a career. Once someone sees me perform, they get what I am doing. 

 Do you find empowerment through drag and how does it empower you?

I have always been extremely powerful energy wise but it taught me to be totally grounded and open, and to expect everything and nothing all at once. It's made me more zen, actually.  

 Do you feel that their are misconceptions about women who do drag and what do you think they are?

Some people think we just dab on some lipstick and put on a wig...not so, dahling! We do everything drag queens do except tuck. I get shit also because some people who don't know me think I'm a cisgender hetero intruding on queer space. Well I'm not those things, and frankly I don't like how our community will just assume that- its the oppressed oppressing each other. I'm way more into inclusivity and unity. 

What is your favorite thing about doing drag?

All the trade I get. (Just kidding no one ever hits on me.)  

 You just put together a show called The Faux Show on March 14th, how would you describe that show and what made that show unique and different from other shows in Chicago?

Well, it was the first Bioqueen centric (but all inclusive) show in Chicago's herstory, and it was super sold out, which is terribly exciting. My drag daughter Dicksie Pictoria brought the idea to me and we shaped it and put it on together at Second City!  We will be moving the show to Berlin Nightclub on May 15th and we are very excited to have that as our new home! Anyone (kings, queens, and everything in between) can apply to do our show by emailing ihatekatsass@gmail.com with one or two number ideas and some performance video and photos. We are also taking newbies that want to try it for the first time! Don't be shy, just email us! 

 Do you have any upcoming performances you'd like to talk about?

My upcoming shows are: 

4/21 Spectacle at Untitled Nightclub at 10 pm

4/23 Host Naughty Little Cabaret at Mother's at 8 pm 

4/23 The Drifter at 11 pm 

4/26 Host brand new TRUTH OR BARE at Berlin Nightclub at 10 pm 

4/29 The Drifter at 9 pm 

4/30 Host Naughty Little Cabaret at Mothers at 8 pm 

5/4 Trannikas Most Wanted Broadway Babies at Berlin at 10 pm 

 Do you have any advice for budding Lady Queens or Bio Queens who want to do Bio drag?

Do twice the work you see drag queens doing and EARN THEIR RESPECT. PRACTICE ALL ASPECTS OF YOUR CRAFT. Be a great performer or practice until you are. Take advice from Queens you trust and never let your ego get in the way of growth.  

Time for a little Dangerfield Herstory

Hey, 

      It's funny how we met like this, you clicking on my page, me eagerly awaiting you to read my little blog, it's interesting how these things occur. I am what the universe calls a female drag queen or a lady queen. You may be asking yourself what is a female drag queen? What does a female drag queen entail? What makes a female drag queen different than a male drag queen? Let me just stop you there, all these questions and more will be answered and I promise you, it's very interesting.

  Let's start with my name, my name is Dottie Dangerfield, my name is derived from famous comedian and childhood favorite, Rodney Dangerfield, my first name is Dottie, I have always loved the name Dottie, it's very childlike, innocent and mischievous. My story like a lot of performers wasn't painted in rainbows and sunshine, like most weird kids or strange kids, I was bullied, beat up and tormented. I have always loved being the center of attention , being loud and obnoxious and having all eyes on me.

The most obvious choice for me was performing, plain and simple. I decided to attend school for Musical Theater where I could explore all my theatrical fantasies. I had an amazing time, dancing , singing and acting and meeting all sorts of people. I had attended for three years and I was out and about auditioning, being in shows and feeling bored of the theater scene. There was not a lot for me, I was either playing comedic roles, the fat best friend or a mother. I was not allowed to be myself in any way, you are constantly told what box to fit into and what roles you are allowed to play based on your "type"

           I started exploring other avenues to perform in and came across burlesque. What a wonderful and sparkling world where everyone was accepted, you had full control of your acts , full control of your costumes and full control of whatever you wanted to create. The burlesque world for me has been warm and inviting and I am forever grateful for my Toronto Burlesque Family. I had been doing burlesque for a bit ,volunteering, performing and slowly establishing who I was but still I felt there was more to me that needed to be discovered.

             

It had been about a year and a bit since I started Burlesque and I had heavily started watching RuPaul Drag Race and started attending some Drag events in my city. I was mesmerized by the queens on stage, strutting themselves, lip syncing and fully transforming into a different character and gender other than themselves. I was amazed, I was in love and I needed to embody that and become that , I needed to learn more. I asked my friend Laura Desiree if she wanted to do an act for the Toronto Burlesque Festival which was RuPaul's Drag Race inspired and she agreed , it was accepted.

At that time, I had started becoming friends with a drag house here called the House of Filth and me and Laura had decided we wanted to ask them to be part of our act. The more I rehearsed with them, the more I started involving myself in the Drag community and feeling the love and acceptance that is when I really was discovering who Dottie was, 

I realized I was a Drag Queen, Dottie Dangerfield is a Drag Queen, that was the missing piece to my puzzle. 

The performance had gone amazing, everything about it felt right, makeup , hair , lip sync, everything . Drag gave me the opportunity to explore my gender in a way I had never experienced before, I could be this hyper-feminized version of myself that society told me was wrong.  I could be sexy, I could be weird and most of all I could be dirty. I could be disgusting, I could be over the top and campy and I could fully transform into this cartoon woman of my most twisted and dark dreams. After the Toronto Burlesque Festival, the House of Filth invited me to join their House and adopted me as their baby. They really helped me explore who I was, what I was becoming and nurtured me.

(House of Filth My Two fabulous moms!)

After this performance everything really started snowballing , I had my first solo Drag performance in a show called She was a Hurricane which was a show where we used real experiences that happened to all of us. That show was not just my official drag debut but it was a show that hit close to home in many ways emotionally and physically. I did a very personal act, relating to my father's death and it was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I did a voice over mixed with a lip-synced performance to The Show must go by Queen. It was the single most powerful and scary thing I had ever done and I was beyond proud of myself.

First Drag Performance (Click for video)

After that I started to develop Dottie more and more and she was slowly becoming a character on her own, my makeup skills dramatically improved, my acts changed and I started incorporating lip syncing in all my performances and I started to mix different songs together. My costumes changed, my goals changed and most of all I changed . I started becoming more politically aware,  I started owning my femininity and I started realizing my own female power and I stopped hiding.

 I was a gender bending , art making machine that lip synced, danced and live sang and no one was going to stand in my way.

Now I end this post with a few photos of yours truly

Pink Dream

Blue babe in the middle