“Queen Mab” photos by Cathryn Beeks

I used the artistic name “Queen Mab” from 2017 through 2021 so that I wouldn’t get fired from my teaching job. I took it from Mercutio’s famous monologue in Romeo and Juliet. Before that, I was calling myself “Gberá,” which was a name my friends in Ghana gave me when I studied there in 2007. Since Queen Mab is the English queen of the fairies, and my ancestors came from England, I decided it would be a more appropriate stage name to use. (Side note: Titania from A Midsummer Night’s Dream is ALSO queen of the fairies. This has always bothered me…who’s the real queen? And then I discovered someone made a comic book exploring that very issue!) I also thought it would be easier to pronounce than “Gberá,” but most of the time I would get called “Queen Mabe” or “Queen Mob.” It’s pronounced like “Mad,” but with a “b.” Yes, I am a teacher. You’re welcome.

Catherine, dressed as Queen Mab, stands regally in the garden holding her pandeiro in a black form-fitting dress, tiara, and wings.
Catherine, as Queen Mab, wears wings, a crown, and a black evening dress. She's holding a pandeiro.
Catherine as Queen Mab in a black evening dress and blue lipstick.
Catherine as Queen Mab holding a branch over her head with one hand and a pandeiro in the other peering seductively out of the woods at the camera.
Catherine as Queen Mab in a tiara, wings, and evening dress holding her pandeiro standing in front of some white flowers.
A black and white image of Catherine as Queen Mab standing in front of white flowers.
Catherine dressed as a fairy holding a pandeiro leaning over a bird bath
Catherine adjusts the hem of her dress sitting on a ledge next to her pandeiro.
Catherine holding her pandeiro with light shining through the trees being her.
Queen Mab

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