Drag Queen Lala Amish delivered a passionate performance at the 27th Annual Drag Show on Friday, Feb. 1, 2018. Ella Banken//AS Review
By Sydnee Smith
Western’s Queer Resource Center held their 27th annual drag show on Feb. 2. The show was a charity event for the Sean Humphrey House, a charity located in Bellingham that houses individuals with AIDS and HIV, and the Lifelong organization, which helps house, feed and give resources to individuals with AIDS and HIV. The QRC partnered with Rumors Cabaret to make the event happen.
Among the performers were eleven drag queens and three drag kings. Performances ranged from lip syncing, dancing, live singing, stilt-walking and audience interaction. Perlita Picante, a burlesque performer from Olympia also performed at the event.
One of the performers was Western senior Sue Nami, who’s been doing drag for three years. They have performed at the show two years in a row.
“It’s fun, it just gives queens and kings an ability to perform. It’s a good cause, it goes to local charity,” Nami said.
The event sold out and even had to turn people away. Alumnae Nicole White and Grace Miller both came to attend the event. White mentioned events like this are important because of Western’s large queer population.
“It indicates there are people here for you. Imagine seeing 500 people [who support you], that might be really comforting,” White said.
Another performer of the night was Orpheus, a drag king. Orpheus has been doing drag since last June and is now Mr. Gay Bellingham. He notes having a persona has helped him come out of his shell a lot more because as a man, he feels like he has more power.
“I bet there are people who come to this show who have never been to a drag show and that’s a really good thing,” Orpheus said. “Also, there are people who are queer, or maybe not out as queer, who are seeing this performance and display and seeing the love that comes in response to it.”
During the intermission, the current reigning Emperor and Empress of the Imperial Sovereign Court of the Evergreen Empire asked people to volunteer their friends to get in drag. After people were volunteered, they went around collecting money from the audience members that wanted to see them in drag the most. The eight people with the most money were then sent backstage to be put in drag.
All money collected during the intermission went towards the Sean Humphrey House and Lifelong charities.
According to the Emperor and Empress over a thousand dollars was raised this year for charity, the second most in the history of the event. The most audience members were put in drag this year as well.
The chosen attendees then came out as drag queens and drag kings, each introducing themselves with drag names.
One of the attendees who was put into drag was Paige Henderson. They mentioned that it was a lot of fun to have the opportunity as a non-binary person. Henderson also said that they see it as a way for the drag community to be normalized.
However, the first three rows of the Performing Arts Center, where the event was held, were reserved seating. The box office oversold tickets due to people forgetting to redeem their complimentary tickets, but still showed up to their reserved seats.
Amber Thatcher, a PAC house manager, said that this has happened before and is a result of a lack of communication on behalf of the box office and the coordinators. Due to the complication, not all ticket holders had physical seats. This resulted in some attendees sitting the aisles, causing a hazard, according to Ryan Han, another house manager.
Thatcher had to then ask the remaining attendees to leave if seats could not be found for them. A few seats were located, not enough for all of those sitting in the aisle. Some also chose to leave as the seats found would prevent them from being able to sit next to those they attended the event with. They were able to get a refund for their tickets, but weren’t able to see the show.
One of the people who was refunded was James Bonaci, AS pop music coordinator. They said that even though they were initially sad they wouldn’t get to see the show, the fact that it was sold out still brought them joy. Bonaci said that they didn’t want what happened to distract from all the hard work that was put into the show.