We were lucky to catch up with Shania And Maria Twampson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Shania and Maria, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

As I would imagine with any artist or creative, there is a lot of passion and joy that comes from being able to do what we do for a living. On the surface, at least from the lens of those who consume our artform, it’s smiles, glitter, sparkles, big wigs, crazy makeup, and big personalities. But, when you dig deep, there is a lot of doubt, self-criticism, uncertainty, and even some fear that what we do isn’t always good enough.

We are definitely our biggest critics when it comes to our drag, and we constantly have to remind ourselves that we are good at what we do, otherwise, we wouldn’t have the success that we have. I think that it’s a good thing, that we are humble enough to recognize that we are good at what we do, but we don’t let it get to our heads… too much.

Anytime that I think about going back to a regular job, I literally get a knot in my stomach. The idea of having to be on somebody else’s schedule and to take orders from other people after 4+ years of calling the shots is a HUGE no for me. I love having the option to say yes or no whenever somebody asks us if we want to do a gig. Of course, when the price is right, we will gladly accept a job, but it’s liberating to know that we can say no if we just want to take that time off instead.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

We are The Twampsons, a drag duo from the Biggest Little City in the world – Reno, Nevada! We are gay and happily married couple that do drag together for a living. We own, run, and operate a medley of drag/burlesque shows in the Reno, Tahoe, and Northern California areas. We came into the drag scene a little after the covid lockdowns were lifted and Reno must have been starving for some good old drag entertainment, because our local notoriety blew up fairly quickly.

We host an award-winning bi-weekly drag brunch in downtown Reno, and just celebrated our 3-years of drag brunches in February 2025. We also do pop-up shows, game nights, bingos, and charity events in many other local and out of state locations.

There are many things that set us apart from others, but if I had to choose a few, I would say it’s our dedication to our craft, our talent, and our drive to entertain. We look at our performances through a specific lens: If we were to remove the drag, the glam, the makeup, the crazy outfits, and the huge hair, and then go out on our stage to perform – is what we’re doing still entertaining? Or, are we just same gay boys prancing around to music? If we’re not actively “bringing down the house” with our dance moves or having people wet their pants from laughing too hard, then in our eyes, our performances aren’t up to our own standards.

We strive to make sure that every person that attends our shows absolutely feels that they got their moneys worth and that the hours they spend with us are worth it. We spend countless hours creating outfits, dance mixes, musical parodies, and writing content for our shows, and we are proud to see that all the work we put into our craft, has allowed us to make a living out of it.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I believe that there are two very specific ways that society can support artists. One, is the obvious: buying what the artist is selling. We have bills, just like everybody else, and our artform in particular, is VERY expensive. An outfit can cost anywhere from $150 to $800+, and that’s not including shoes ($100+ a pair), jewelry, makeup, and the price of wigs (easily $200-400+ each). Buying tickets to shows and tipping your drag performers is the #1 way to support artists like us.

On the other hand, we also understand that finances are pretty rough for a lot of people right now, and we totally get that. The second most effective form of supporting an artist, if you don’t have a lot of money to spare, is to simply share our content. Word of mouth is by far, the easiest and most effective form of free support there is. Simply talking to your friends, family, or coworkers about the experience you’ve had at one of our shows is absolutely priceless.

We have been blessed to have a community in Reno that is great at talking about us and we constantly see new faces come to our show and then return a month or two later with new groups of friends, who then in return, bring more of their own friends. One fan can easily turn into twenty by simply spreading the word!

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The cheeky answer is being able to afford rent! But, in all seriousness, I think it’s the impact that we make on people. Our #1 rule at our drag shows is to let loose and have fun. People come to our shows for many different reasons, but they all boil down to one thing: we bring happiness to people’s lives.

I can’t even count the amount of times people have come up to us and thanked us for giving them a place where they feel safe, welcomed, and even if just for a few hours, they can forget their woes and just have a good time.

Some of my favorite encounters have been with people who stumbled across a show we were doing somewhere in public, and afterwards, they’ve come up to me and thanked me for doing what I do. Just last month, I was a guest MC at a local burlesque show, where the majority of performers are cis-women doing burlesque. After the show, an older white gentleman came up to me and told me that he was a straight conservative that voted for Trump. He told me that he was sorry that he and many people like him view us in such a negative manner, because it is what they’re fed to believe in conservative media. He told me that seeing me on that stage opened his eyes and he saw the humanity in people like me, where prior to the show, he just saw the monster that he was led to believe we were. I think drag can be a powerful tool to show people like him that yes, we are just humans trying to live our lives like everybody else.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/thetwampsons
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shaniatwampson/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheTwampsons
• Other: Maria Twampson Instagram:
  https://www.instagram.com/maria_twampson/

  Eventbrite Profile to buy tickets to our upcoming shows:
  https://www.eventbrite.com/o/the-twampsons-41910956333

Image Credits

@eventsbyfrank
@trixiemotel
@ashleylapradephotography
@npdevents
@mrturk
@friartux
@thepaigematthews
@vincent_paul_artistry
@cvclassiccars