After a year with no on-campus activity, the university brings back the annual drag show in person, after what was a virtual event in 2020. One of FAU’s own students, Peter Kszywanos, will be the opening act. 

Kszywanos, a senior majoring in multimedia studies minoring in dance, has been participating in the art of drag for three years and is referred to as Miss Rozzz when he takes the stage and becomes “her.” 

Even before beginning his career as Miss Rozzz, Kszywanos was always dancing, in high school, he danced for a company called United Rhythms in Connecticut. 

Kszywanos’s love for dance started at the age of 10, he then discovered his passion for makeup around the age of 15. 

“Since I was a child, I have always loved the feeling of performing for an audience and being able to make people smile and come together through my passion for this incredible art form,” said Miss Rozzz.

At 21, Miss Rozzz has accomplished so much as a queen, such as choreographing a production of “Dreamgirls” and it is only the beginning of her career. 

Ariel Rimm, Rozzz’s drag mother, an experienced drag queen who mentors up-and-coming drag artists, first encountered Rozzz three years ago while hosting a Drag 101 workshop. Miss Rozzz was sitting with a friend wearing a long blonde wig, full shadowed eyes, and an outfit covered in red rhinestones.

Rimm was immediately struck by Rozzz. 

“I never chased the idea of having a drag daughter… even when I did it, it just felt natural. I had never been inspired like that by a younger queen before,” Rimm said. “I recognized that she already had talent as a makeup artist, it just seemed natural to me to take her under my wing.”

Ariel saw several videos of Rozzz performing before becoming her drag mother. Rimm recalls working with her for the first time; she invited Rozzz to come along with her to a university event at the Jupiter campus and encouraged her to do a number. 

Instantly, her striking dancing and intense energy caught Rimm’s eye. She remembers feeling drawn to her. 

Miss Rozzz, being a full-time student, must balance education and her passion for drag, which does not always come along easily. 

Rimm said that not everyone has the natural ability to make the audience feel connected to drag performance and thought about how Miss Rozzz’s career has yet to peak.  

Once Kszywanos graduates, he will be able to put more time into Miss Rozzz’s drag. Rimm believes that Rozzz will skyrocket. 

“It’s so difficult to describe such a big personality, for some drag artists a lot of the time the way that they are outside of drag is very different in comparison to themselves in drag,” Miss Rozzz’s own drag daughter, a drag queen who is the mentee of another queen, Xiomara Amour said. “How we behave ourselves in drag is a heightened version of our real selves, but Peter is the same in and outside of drag. Rozzz, as a person, is a huge ball of energy. She is a very caring person and super generous with her time.”

Both Rimm and Amour explained that the person represented on stage, Miss Rozzz, is the same off the stage, Peter Kszywanos. She does not need drag to heighten herself. They said that, as seen in Miss Rozzz, not all queens have a change in persona. 

Mizz Rozzz said she doesn’t like to be redundant and loves spicing up her performance routines. 

“I try my hardest to do something new and different each time I perform. I find that I get tired of performing the same songs over and over again. Of course, I have my favorites, but it’s so much more fun exploring different ways of performing different types of music,” Miss Rozzz said. 

Amour emphasized the fact that she is not afraid to try anything new. 

The first time Amour saw her drag mother perform, her jaw dropped to the floor. Looking back, Amour said, “The way she was performing was above and beyond… I personally don’t know anyone who matches her energy when they perform in drag, Rozzz just lets it out on the floor when she goes on stage…When I saw that video of her whipping her hair I could just tell she was so into it and that’s what go to me.” 

Both Rimm and Amour have said that Miss Rozzz knows how to perform and grab the people’s attention. 

“They can tell she is being her genuine self on stage. The audience grasps that Rozzz is confident and doesn’t need validation from anyone,” Amour said. 

For some, it may be an outfit, specific makeup looks, or a fine-tuned choreographed dance that produces an unforgettable performance, but for Rozzz, it is none of the above. Rimm said that Miss Rozzz can perform in any outfit with any makeup look, and kill the performance regardless.

Behind the scenes, there have been mishaps that the audience has never caught on to. Amour said that no matter what difficulty is occurring behind closed doors, Miss Rozzz will still bring it. 

“We were performing at this place called Troupe 429 and her heel broke five seconds into her number and I didn’t even know,” Amour shared. “This girl still performed the house down. There is nothing stopping her.”

Rozzz has had minor injuries that have caused her to limit the kinds of dance moves she could use, yet previous audience members have said it was the best performance they ever watched, Amour said.

“It makes me proud to get on Facebook or any social media platform and see my drag daughter doing well for herself, making a name for herself,” said Rimm. 

Amour said that Miss Rozzz motivates other queens in the industry to better themselves, including herself. 

Amour explained the niche Rozzz has for memorizing lyrics and said, “I’ve never seen Rozzz forget a word, she just knows the lyrics from the back of her hand and you know she does because she performs the song so well, you can see it in her facial expressions. I hope to get to that point eventually.”

Miss Rozzz is finally able to live out her dream. Oct. 22 will provide her with an opportunity to perform in a major show with a major lineup of artists, Aja from season nine of RuPaul’s Drag Race being one of them.

RuPaul’s Drag Race was in fact one of the factors in Kszywanos’s decision to start drag. 

“I had just started watching RuPaul’s Drag Race at the time and wound up going to see one of the tours that the queens were doing for the holidays,” said Miss Rozz. “Seeing that show was the final push to tell myself that I needed to pursue the art form of drag.”

When talking about Rozzz’s thoughts on the forthcoming show, Amour said, “I know she is super excited for this show because of the amount of exposure there’s going to be. There are a lot of people out there who don’t know who Rozzz is, and I feel sorry for them because they should know who Rozzz is.”

The opening act this Friday needs to be able to hold their own, and both Miss Rozzz’s drag mother and drag daughter have elucidated the astounding performances she executes that viewers should expect on Oct. 22. Tickets to watch Miss Rozzz are available here. 

“[This] Friday will be electrifying, and it’ll be electrifying for more than one reason, I’ll leave it at that,” Rimm said.

Lili Jahromi is a Contributing Writer for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email her at [email protected]