“Gender is a performance, and I’m the star.”
Hannah Weisz is one of New York City’s youngest and most creative drag queens, going by Mae B. Tomorrow. Hannah is a performance artist and first-year student at NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study studying justice and performance. They kicked off their drag career in February of 2023 as a high school student in New Jersey and have been performing ever since. Their most recent shows have taken place at iconic New York City bars and venues like Henrietta Hudson, Lil Park Drag Show, The Tank and underneath St. Mark’s Theater.
Hannah’s favorite place in the world is Washington Square Park. They attribute much of their joy living in the city to the existence of public spaces — specifically, Washington Square Park for its “social and cultural openness to artists of all kinds.” Hannah frequently interacts with performance artists settled within the park and plans to attend an upcoming demonstration protesting the increased police presence in the area that is aimed to restrict artist activity.
The photographer approached Hannah after saying that they had a “Bob Dylan-like essence” and that he simply needed to capture it.
Hannah sings and plays ukulele to their own original songs — music and songwriting is just one of Hannah’s mediums, as they also write poetry and creative prose. They are currently finishing up an EP titled “Lilac Oil,” which will soon be recorded at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music with the help of a Clive Davis student. Hannah is working with Plaid Dog Recording — an agency dedicated to helping rising artists release their first batch of songs — after the studio loved the demos they sent over.
“I’m always so happy when a student reacts, ‘I didn’t know we could do that’ after watching a show,” said Mathur. “For the longest time, I didn’t know I could go into the arts as a career because its financial uncertainty just made me feel so unserious. I was inspired by Hasan Minhaj when he interviewed South Asian high schoolers in the tri-state area. He said, ‘But why do our dreams have to be on the side?’ I want to make people’s dreams tangible, not shoved away in a drawer for later. We have to give people the free stage and the safe space to learn to become an artist on top of a person. When we grant them opportunity, I trust that young, innovative students will be the ones to drive new landscapes forward.”
To begin the process of getting into drag, Hannah pulls out their makeup and eyelash kits at 10 a.m. to get ready for their show that will start at 7 p.m. Simply putting on proper drag makeup takes Hannah about four hours, although they are working on cutting that time down. It can be an extensive process, especially if you have to go to a 2 p.m. class halfway through.
The first and most demanding part of getting into drag is gluing and drawing on the eyebrows. Hannah’s goal in creating the perfect eyebrows is to create a “blank slate” so that they can draw a more exaggerated, creative brow to fit the outfit aesthetic. Hannah applies layers upon layers of the purple Elmer’s glue stick, pushing the hair upwards with the glue.
“You have to really lick the glue to get it to slide easily on the brow,” said Hannah, before leaving for their 2 p.m. theater history class. The hour-long seminar serves as a mere break from getting ready.
“I need them [the eyebrows] to be sisters, not twins.”
Once the makeup is done, or at least partially done, it’s time for Hannah to test out the “body.” When getting into drag, Hannah always puts on a cotton waist, bottom and enlarged bra underneath the chosen outfit to fit the personality for their performance that day.
Hannah first tried on their grunge, emo personality, which lasted about two minutes. They typically dress themselves with a clip-on nose ring and dog collar designated for the outfit. However, immediately after getting dressed, they knew the look was not the right one for this particular show — it was time for an outfit change.
Mae talked about her experience performing in drag as a young person and what it means to them as an artist and queer individual — especially during a time in which drag is severely under attack.
“I think the conservatives are right about one thing…” Mae tells the audience.
“Drag is inherently political — it is not confined inside of a system or set of rules. It is radical, which is such a good thing because we need radical now more than ever. I perform drag because it is completely based on my own creativity rather than a system or a sex imposed upon me. It allows me to get what I need out of womanhood — through my own agency entirely.”
Contact Levi Langley at [email protected].
