This Thursday, Oct 8., The Sexuality and Gender Alliance will host on its Fall Amateur Drag Show. The show is to be Halloween themed, and it will feature eight student performers.
Connor Johnson, a sophomore advertising major, currently serves as SAGA’s vice president of community and did the primary planning for the show. He spoke about his excitement for fresh faces and the decidedly popular theme.
“Everyone was very excited when we decided on the Halloween theme, and we are hoping that the audience will be too,” Johnson said. “I have seen a few of the acts, as I came to see last semester’s show, and we have a few of the same performers — but the majority of them are new, which is very exciting! We actually had so many people sign up that we had to set up a relatively long wait list as well.”
Assisting Johnson in his planning was sophomore economics major and vice president of public relations, Cody Holmes. In this role, Holmes takes care of advertising for events put on by SAGA, an organization he is very passionate about.
“SAGA means a lot to me, because I want to do my best to make this club a sanctuary for people of all sexualities and gender identities,” Holmes said.
A veteran of the amateur drag stage, Holmes has high hopes for the performers this semester.
“I am looking forward to seeing the totally different looks and songs people have,” he said. “Our theme is Halloween, and with that comes a lot of possibilities. I’m expecting a lot of costuming and super cool makeup creations.”
Junior social work major Joe Wrenn, another past performer, will attend this show as an enthusiastic audience member. He is ready for the chaos and creativity of the performers and spoke about his excitement.
“I love how fun the shows are and the audience/performer interactions,” Wrenn said. “I am most looking forward to the theme and seeing how all the performers incorporate it into their performances.”
One of the upcoming hosts and past winners, Kate Rawson, plans on embracing the theme, which she believes to be perfectly suited for the show.
“I am most looking forward to performing and getting to scare people a little bit,” Rawson said. “For people that have never been to a drag show before, the theme of Halloween is actually perfect. On Halloween, people dress up as someone or something else, and that’s really what drag is all about. This might help first-timers understand the experience and not be as uncomfortable by the concept of drag.”
Rawson, a senior psychology major, cares deeply about the potential of these shows and hopes that they make people think.
“I got involved with the drag shows because I love to perform in any aspect and I think it’s neat for people to question gender conformity through drag,” she said. “People think of drag as just gay men dressing up like women and lesbian women dressing up like dudes. But it can be so much more than that. We can ignore the gender binary altogether, and I hope to see our drag shows move in that direction.”
The show will start at 7 p.m. this Thursday, and seats are expected to fill up quickly. It will take place in the Parkway Ballroom and cost $5 per person.
Story by: Jordan Parkhurst, Intern A&E Reporter