{"id":27035,"date":"2025-07-10T09:00:35","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T16:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/?p=27035"},"modified":"2025-07-11T09:23:55","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T16:23:55","slug":"pieces-of-performance-junk-male-gets-wacky-nerdy-and-silly-with-a-smile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2025\/07\/10\/pieces-of-performance-junk-male-gets-wacky-nerdy-and-silly-with-a-smile\/","title":{"rendered":"<em>Pieces of Performance<\/em>: Junk Male gets wacky, nerdy, and silly with a smile"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Junk Male is jumping into the spotlight with a mish-mash of positivity, seduction, and gut-hurting laughter. This non-binary bean lights up every room they walk into and has become one of the top producers to work with on the island.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been involved with the drag scene since 2018. [I] watched a couple friends in various King Fling shows and my mind was blown,\u201d says Junk. \u201cThese friends became my drag family and Junk Male was born.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pre-pandemic and with more stage space, Junk Male decided to take matters into their own hands and become the king of comedic and sultry queens by birthing drag show For the Love of Drag, now known as Brick and Lavender Productions. The aim of this show was to take over stages and fill them with the love and identities of the varying performers.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_27036\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-27036\" style=\"width: 200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pieces-of-Performance-CREDIT-MKM-Photography.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-27036\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pieces-of-Performance-CREDIT-MKM-Photography-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pieces-of-Performance-CREDIT-MKM-Photography-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pieces-of-Performance-CREDIT-MKM-Photography-467x700.jpg 467w, https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pieces-of-Performance-CREDIT-MKM-Photography-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pieces-of-Performance-CREDIT-MKM-Photography-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pieces-of-Performance-CREDIT-MKM-Photography-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pieces-of-Performance-CREDIT-MKM-Photography-400x600.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pieces-of-Performance-CREDIT-MKM-Photography.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-27036\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Local performer Junk Male describes themselves as \u201ca human form of a muppet&#8221; (photo by MKM Photography).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe focus is taking up space, including more queer performers, such as burlesque, and making shows outside of the mainstream,\u201d they say.<\/p>\n<p>Inspiring others and connecting family with performance art has introduced a variety of ideas to create the weirdest performances, shared or not.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy [inspirations were] sweet drag angels Nyx and Candy Boxx,\u201d says Junk. \u201cAfter seeing them on stage, I knew I wanted to be a part of that, and we started creating weird and wonderful magic together as Misterpiece Theatre.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>While the passion has been driven by watching others, Junk\u2014who describes themself as \u201ca human form of a muppet\u201d\u2014always wants to make sure there are laughs to share and have everyone in on the joke.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love creating wacky, nerdy, and silly performances, usually with an unexpected audio cut or costume reveal,\u201d they say. \u201cI really just want folks to laugh along with me and the ridiculousness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Drag has offered so many pivotal realizations and chances for people to create a persona that can express how they truly feel. It allows the opportunity to explore and become comfortable with all aspects of their sexuality, gender fluidity, and even help with gradual transitions, says Junk.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGetting into drag helped me a lot with my gender journey. I didn\u2019t even know the spectrum of gender diversity that existed until I was involved in the scene,\u201d they say.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>While in these spaces, they shared opportunities and struck a chord within themselves.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cSeeing fellow drag performers living authentically and also discovering themselves through the art was super inspirational,\u201d says Junk.<\/p>\n<p>The drive and passion that Junk has shown over the last six years translates into being highly sought-after to work with, and the community is well aware that they have become a safe and inclusive person that they can reach out to. Creating shows from scratch and working their way up has been a ride that they are happy to have been on.<\/p>\n<p>With multiple closures of local inclusive event spaces, Junk says that one of their dreams in life is to \u201copen a free-to-low-cost, fully equipped performance space\u201d offering barrier-free spots to highlight the diversity of the community.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy passion has shifted from just drag to encompass more performers, but I\u2019d say it\u2019s always been a passion to help as many folks take the stage as I can. Truly a labour of love,\u201d they say.<\/p>\n<p>Junk says that certain words of wisdom can be translated through all different communities and beings and should be a way to live life.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Remember] to show kindness to each other. Keep fighting for our trans siblings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And what does the future look like for Junk?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel like I\u2019ve made most of my contributions over the last six years. I\u2019m definitely still creating spaces and taking up space, but at a slower and more manageable pace.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Find Junk Male at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/brickandlavender\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@brickandlavender<\/a> and check out some of their upcoming shows and a fundraiser to support Eves of Destruction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Junk Male is jumping into the spotlight with a mish-mash of positivity, seduction, and gut-hurting laughter. This non-binary bean lights up every room they walk into and has become one of the top producers to work with on the island.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve been involved with the drag scene since 2018. [I] watched a couple friends in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27054,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,334],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-july-2-2025"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27035"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27037,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27035\/revisions\/27037"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}