The oversized glass doors of PSU’s HUB Courtroom opened casually for the University’s Third annual Drag Fabulous Drag Show just after 7:15 p.m. Thurs, April 17. Students paid an entrance fee of ten dollars to see the nine acts all there to support a common cause. All proceeds from the two-hour event went directly to The Pemi-Valley Habitat for Humanity.
Drag Fabulous raised over five hundred dollars for the Pemi-Valley Habitat for Humanity. In an attempt to open students’ minds, Dr. McClellan said, “All gender is performative in a fun, non-threatening arena. I think more people will be tolerant and open to different definitions and ideas about gender in their public and private lives.”
Performers were enthusiastic about the event, “[My favorite part was] looking in the mirror and realizing I could actually pull off being a guy.” Lindsey Deporter, another student participant, said, “Anyone should try, it’s fun.”
“Students need to really talk about the show and let people who didn’t go know how much fun it was and how supportive it is.” McClellan said.
A crowd comprised of students, faculty and family received a comical and generous welcome by Master of Ceremonies, Karen Munz. Munz opened the showcase with a door prize raffle and an introduction to the judges panel. She also introduced Drag Committee members Delilah Smith, Matt Blocker, Erin Creley and Janelle Sprague. Each committee member said a few words of appreciation for all the participants and guests that came to enjoy the show and reminded those in attendance that the goal was to create a supportive and accepting environment in which diversity can be celebrated and embraced at PSU.
Boston-based drag performance troupe, All The King’s Men (ATKM) were the first to take stage. Eight female members form the troupe but only two preformed the group’s first song “Too Sexy” by Right Said Fred. They were dressed in retro 1970’s detective attire reminiscent to that of The Beastie Boys, 1994 track “Sabotage”. Wasting no time, the performers happily crawled the premise of the stage’s rope lit catwalk. Continuing to entertain throughout several other songs, it was ATKM’s two-track finale that received the most audience response. The troupe’s second-to-last track put ATKM inside an old age home. They included the following characters: one babushka lady, one même and one nanny with bunny slippers and lipstick smeared teeth. Nanny cued up “Like a Virgin” by Madonna.
Following that was Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” which crept through the speakers as two members of ATKM busted out the lurching moves, leather jacket and jerry curl that originally made the 1983 hit famous. Making way for the Drag Committee’s performance, ATKM took a final bow and opened the stage.
Deliah Smith and Matt Blocker sat properly on stools wearing star hats and overalls. They also held tennis racket “guitars” as they performed the country song “Friendship” in their alter egos Wilbur and Mary Lou. Mary Lou, with pigtails and a freckled complexion pronounced her shared, infinite love for Wilbur while the pair synchronized their lyrics and even got up for an arm-in-arm sing-along into a comical tambourine slapping walk. A mix of applause and cheers from the audience subdued the music when Smith and Blocker began exiting the stage just before intermission.
PSU faculty was in heavy attendance. Dr. Robin DeRosa commented, “I think that in addition to being a great general community builder-hundreds of students, faculty and staff come together for the fun event, the show also helps send the message that the institution is supportive of our lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered members.
This is such an important message given the dominant homophobic climate of the country, the statistics about LGBT youth and suicide and dropout rates, and the isolation that LGBT folks can sometimes feel, especially in rural communities.”Donning baggy pants, tipping back her red cap and crypt colored bandana, Kaitlin Jones hit the stage to please the crowd with her rendition of “Kiss, Kiss.” With her facial expressions and body language, she imitated rapper, Chris Brown. Fans dropped money on the stage in appreciation and donation for Habitat for Humanity.
With the dollar bills cleared and the individual acts over for the evening, it was time to set the stage for the three group performers. ALSO came onto the scene first with their version of T.Pain’s, “Low”. Next was the performance of “Gasolina” where the girls were decked out in hip-hop gear. Jones moved her dancing to the catwalk with the group following for some courtroom floor dance action. Back on stage, the group finished the song and cleared the floor for the show’s only faculty founded group.
Shelly and The Franks crossed genders when Dr. Ann McClellan, Dr. Robin DeRosa and several other faculty members from the English department performed Michael Jackson’s Thriller. The act had a performance-art feel as the drag-doctors performed what appeared to be an autopsy. At the end of the performance the “corpse” leapt from the autopsy table and made a zombie like dance down the catwalk.
Outfitted with drawn-in beards, baggy jeans, baseball caps and headbands, the Blair Girls performed N’Syncs “Digital Get Down.” The group appeared just as the boys themselves would have eight years prior and certainly danced with one another with no strings attached-tastefully dancing across the stage before closing the night out.