Actor Grant Evan Explores Race, Class & Drag in 'Ain't No More'

EDGE: How would you describe "Ain't No Mo'?" Is it a satire? Is it a fantasia? How do you see it?

Grant Evan: Oh, my God, that's a great question. Satire is the best way to describe it – satire with high absurdist fantasy elements. I can't give away too much of the plot, so I won't talk about that. But using a sketch style, a lot like "The Colored Museum, I believe "Ain't No Mo'" tries to paint a picture of what it is to make choices in modern America.

EDGE: The show is very funny, but, like you say, it's also tackling serious themes. What is the most personal aspect of this play for you?

Grant Evan: One of the things that stuck with me, especially the first time I saw it, was how much intersection there is between the conversations around race as well as class, and how [playwright Jordan Cooper] zeroed in on the fact that you can't have these discussions about race in America without talking about class.

As someone who came from Prince George's County in Maryland, which is an affluent black community, it was interesting to try to separate out my raw feelings about Black capitalism versus my blackness. The other thing is that Peaches, our lead, is a queer woman. She's obviously as a drag queen or a trans femme. She is bold and present and leading, and unapologetically the voice that we enter the show through for so much of the show.

EDGE: Is drag a large part of your own resume as a performer?

Grant Evan: I don't consider what I do to be formally drag. I have a lot of friends who are proper drag queens who will tell you in a heartbeat that what [Peaches] is doing is not drag, and I think that's totally fair.

As a non-binary person, and someone who visually represents across the spectrum, it's been interesting deep diving into Peaches and the textures of drag as its own art form. One of the things that we've been privileged about in our current time is the commercialization of drag and taking it out of the subversive roots that it comes from – because of RuPaul, because of The Boulet Brothers – and truly getting to see drag become more mainstream, even as we get knocked back on some legislative things – to still see that people are more open and willing to invite that art form into their presence, and into their minds.

EDGE: The show takes a sketch format. Do you feel like Peaches represents a through line, or is an anchor for the play?

Grant Evan: I've talked about this a lot with Dawn Simmons, our director, and one of the things that struck me in the structure of "Ain't No Mo'" is how much there is a through line of Black femmes and Black matriarchs. In each of the sketches there's discussion of Black motherhood and what it means for our community, what it means to have the feminine energy balancing a masculine energy, whether it's in our first sketch, which is "Circle of Life," at the abortion clinic, or it's in "Green," which is about a family and the decision that they make, and the mother being wholly absent from that environment, and what that did to the family structure.

Peaches is the only character who we see multiple times. She's the only one who we really get to launch into our journey and absolutely immerse ourselves in her journey. I think that she represents so much of that black, femme, matriarchal energy that is leading us and guiding us. I liken her to Moses in the Old Testament: She's a loud, brash, femme Moses who's like, "Get your shit together, and let's go. We have a place to be. We have to get into the promised land." So much of what she represents is a guiding force. That's what that feminine leadership and support system looks like.

EDGE: Like Moses, there's some question as to whether or not Peaches gets to enter that promised land.

Grant Evan: I think that Peaches represents so many of the Black femmes who are at the forefront of social justice and change. We've had so many opportunities to see what Black queer femmes, what our Marsha Johnsons, bring to a fight. Frequently, they are the ones who lead the charge in in liberation, and the price that they pay, frequently, is a self-sacrifice, whatever that means. Whether it's physically, whether that's with their families, whether that's financially, they are constantly the ones who suffer the most, even though they should be the ones who are most celebrated and advocated for. I think that Peaches is a great representation of what happens, and what can happen, to our most vulnerable when they are used to spearhead agendas.

EDGE: What do you hope audiences are going to take away from the show?

Grant Evan: Our show ends on such a powerfully emotional note and such a provocative punch that what I hope people walk away with is introspection about what it means to build community, and the importance of sticking together and protecting our disenfranchised. That hope for optimism, that hope for care, that hope that we are in love with each other in spite of our big flaws is something that I hope that people take away from the show.

EDGE: You were cast by Stephen Schwartz in the "The Baker's Wife" in New York. What was the story there?

Grant Evan: I had just finished another contract, and my agent was like, "I'm not sure what's coming, and you're not lined up for anything." And I was like, "That's okay, I'll hunker down and do some auditions and we'll see what happens." And literally, on a Thursday night, he said, "You have six hours. I need you to turn in a tape singing anything by Stephen Schwartz, anything." At that time, I had one song by Mr. Schwartz in my book, which is "All Good Gifts" from "Godspell." I was like, "That'll work."

On Saturday, while I was out grocery shopping, my agent calls and goes, "You booked 'The Baker's Wife' off Broadway. Do you want to know who cast you in it?" I was like, "Yeah, sure, of course." He's like, "Steven Schwartz picked you to do this." So, that is how I found out that not only was I booked for another contract that was starting in two days, but also Stephen Schwartz himself had listened to me sing, which was insane.

Fun fact: I got to sing "Meadowlark" in front of him – not well, not brilliantly; drunkenly, and at a cast party. And it was totally worth it. 10 out of 10, we'd do it again!

"Ain't No Mo'," a collaboration between Front Porch Arts Collective and SpeakEasy Stage Company, plays Jan. 10 – Feb. 8 plays at the Boston Center for the Arts.