Drag Performer You Should Know: Hollow Eve
If you are like me then you are probably counting down the days to The Oaklash Festival happening this weekend. It’s a Bay Area staple of Drag and queer performance celebrating its seventh year and it’s going to be an inspiring weekend. Oaklash is a leader in the community for uplifting artists who transcend the idea of Drag as simply entertainers. They are artists who thrive in their art and uplift voices with activism.
Community-minded with eyes on a safe, queer future, this festival is not to be missed. Bring your singles and be ready for a stupendous weekend of nonstop DRAG including live performance, DJs, artists, music, dancing, vendors and more Friday May 17th – Sunday May 19th! Kings, queens, and queers from all over the Bay Area and beyond will join together for this annual celebration of local queer culture.
Hollow Eve poses in the redwoods in Elizabethan splendor. Photo by Vita Hewitt.
Hollow Eve who identifies as a “Post Binary Drag Socialist with a penchant for anarchy” will be closing the festival on Sunday, May 19 at 6pm at Omni Commons in Oakland, with a show entitled Rebirth: The Death of Drag. With this description, I needed to know more. They were kind enough to meet me for a quick interview and photoshoot this week.
When Hollow rocked up they were dressed in an Elizabethan gender-bending costume that I, and the rest of the town could not take our eyes off of. Gold flaked off their nose and ears. When I asked what this meant, Hollow smiled at me with their brown Elizabethan-style teeth. I learned that due to the notoriously poor hygiene practices during Shakespeare’s time, when syphilis rotted off parts of a person’s face gold was painted on in hopes of stopping it. Obviously, I decided right then and there that Hollow was my kind of person. They competed on Season 3 of The Boulet Brother’s Dragula but their talents and message go so far beyond the bounds of reality TV. Welcome to the world of Hollow Eve.
IG: @holloweve
Website: holloweve.com
When did you start?
I started drag in 2003 at Trannyshack at the Stud. My college friend, Venus Envy (Amanda Spooner) invited me to do a duet at Trannyshack and we performed a live singing version of “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend” with Venus as Marilyn Monroe and myself as “Rush Limber” (Rush Limbaugh) Although the bridge to drag was probably built by my years of performing in the cult cinema “Rocky Horror Picture Show” at The Phoenix Theater in Petaluma starting in 1996.
Hollow in the window of SONAS Denim in Fairfax. Photo by Vita Hewitt.
What is your artistic background?
I trained as a dancer most of my life, then started adding theater in my early teenage years. I trained at a conservatory and then taught movement at one as well. I got my BA in Theater from SFSU with an emphasis in Technical Theater and Lighting Design with the intention of becoming a Director. I was introduced to a deviant queer art space in the mid-2000s called “Mama Calizo’s Voice Factory” and this is the space that truly changed my perspective on performance art and drag. At the time we shared a space with the Center For Sex and Culture, so there was an integrated feeling of sexual liberation. There was a limitless quality to what was being produced. It was a space for risk-taking and the work being created there was really inspiring. I became the Technical Director at MCVF and met one of two “unicorns” (as I call them) who created businesses based on loving deviant queer art and artists. Dwayne Calizo, may he rest in peace was up for anything and Michael McElheney the owner of The Stud was a home for weirdos. They both took huge risks with their businesses making space for limitless art and artists.
View this post on Instagram
Tell us about your show at Oaklash?
I am producing and performing in the final event of Oaklash 2024 called ReBirth: The Death of Drag at Omni Commons. It is an immersive show honoring the legacy of freedom, risk-taking and deviance of my beloved and dearly departed Drag Mother, Phatima Rude. Our small family which we lovingly call the “Rude Family Jewels” made up of myself, Kochina Rude, and Jillian Gnarling are keeping her legacy alive by creating a space for our fellow artists to be in their utmost authenticity. We frame the show with songs, her philosophies and performance elements that would have delighted Phatima. At 6pm you can join us for a memorial installation honoring Phatima created by Jillian Gnarling as well as a performance installation by myself rooted in Sumerian mythology. There are also interactive sound and gender installations and a full bar. Then at 7:45 we will have a funeral for drag and descend through the seven gates of the underworld to a giant womb made of the remnants of drag fabric to ReBirth what drag is for an 8pm show. The cast includes: Uphoria (Portland), La Chucha, Aya Dapt, Dusk (LA), Krimm, Pseuda, Hollywood Texas, Jillian Gnarling, Kochina Rude, Hollow Eve
Explain the significance of the outfit you are wearing?
I love Shakespeare. I have loved Shakespeare since I was 7 years old. When I was given a vampire challenge I needed my dream of wearing Pumpkin Pants to come true. This dream was made possible by the incredible skill and design of Enrique Solana a designer who works out of LA. I wanted to Genderfuck an Elizabethan outfit and revel in the mold and “decaydance” of the grave. I think Shakespeare would have appreciated my worm-stuffed cod piece and my gender abolition. The overall performance was a burlesque piece where I present my genitals as meaningless to my gender and humanity.
Tell me about your reality TV experience.
There is a narrative in drag today that “success” is getting cast on a reality tv show. My experience taught me that that was not success to me. I met some of the most beloved people in my life and learned so much about myself, and I cherish what I have learned. Reality TV, is not real or authentic and I think simply by calling it “Reality TV” we gaslight ourselves into believing it is truth. I love the art, I love the artists, I can leave behind the medium of Reality TV. Success is connection, community, and authentic art-making. That is our wealth that is my wealth.
Who else should we see at Oaklash?
Is it wrong to say everything? Oaklash is an amazing event and it is unique amongst drag festivals as one of the few that pay all performers. Support local drag and get out to everything you can. No one is turned away for lack of funds, so join us and revel in the stories, ideas, and art that moves us as a community. Let’s laugh, cry, dance, scream, and rage in joy of each other. It is a precarious time in the world and art and expression is part of the solution on the road to humanization. Let’s connect.
Photo by Vita Hewitt.
Where do you come from conceptually in Drag?
I am a Post Binary Drag Socialist with a penchant for anarchy, or so I say. I created Hollow as a performance art vessel for any gender or idea. They are a space to be filled and there is no limit to what they can create. I don’t believe in Monarchy as a power structure, I thought we were over that. I see all performers as equal and I want to be in a community of mutual respect. Drag is not corporate, it is not a brand. It is self-expression that teaches you yourself and frees you to connect with others. The more fears we challenge through art the closer we come to one another. The wealth of our world is in our ability to connect and humanize each other and art does that, that is why it is not for sale. It is an invitation to find your people and yourself.
What Shows are coming up for you?
Just ReBirth. I gave it everything and have not been able to event think beyond its creation. It is my past, present and future.
Hollow Eve shows off their codpiece. Photo by Vita Hewitt.
What else would you like to add?
I am greedy as an audience member. I want to feel anything and everything and then dance until my spirit is free. We as artists are our own audience. The more we see ourselves as part of the audience the more we give ourselves permission to make art for ourselves, the more we connect with others. There is a scarcity mode that drag went into after the pandemic and so many artists felt a need to create work for the audience as if they were not a part of it. This is a community. During ReBirth the line between audience and artist is blurred as the artists are also in the audience. This is the permission we all need to make art in authenticity and vulnerability.
Check out the full list of events and performers at oaklash.com/lineup
For tickets visit Oaklash
Howdy! My name is Katy Atchison and I'm an Associate Editor for Broke-Ass Stuart.
I want to take the time to say thank you for supporting independent news media by reading BrokeAssstuart.com. Supporting independent news sources like Broke-Ass Stuart is vital to supporting our community because it amplifies the voices of a wide variety of diverse opinions. You also help support small businesses and local artists by sharing stories from Broke-Ass Stuart.
Because you're one of our supporters, I wanted to send over a pro-tip.
Our bi-weekly newsletter is a great way to get round ups of Broke-Ass Stuart stories, learn about new businesses in The Bay Area, find out about fun local events and be first in line for giveaways.
If you’d like to get our newsletter, signup right here, it takes 5 seconds.
You Might Also Like
