Drag Queen Luna DeLyte lip-syncing during their performance. Joe Addison // AS Review
By Eva Bryner
Western’s Queer Resource Center hosted its 28th Annual Drag Show on Friday, Feb. 8, with 12 performers captivating the sold-out audience at the Performing Arts Center.
All proceeds of the event are donated to two local LGTBQ+ charities, Lifelong and Sean Humphrey House.
Performers with all levels of experience took the stage over the night, performing to songs like “Born This Way,” by Lady Gaga and FKA Twigs’ “Cellophane.”
The performance invites newcomers to drag, as well as long time queens and kings, like Betty Desire, who performed at Western’s drag show for the 24th year in a row.
Desire has long been a community icon with 25 years of experience in drag. Desire was influential in creating the Betty Pages, a local newspaper focusing on LGBTQ+ issues, and helping organize the first pride parades in Bellingham.
“Drag for me is a tool to be a conversation starter,” Desire said. “As Betty, I could go up to any table and start up a conversation.”
To QRC Community Engagement Coordinator Nichole Vargas, the event holds importance beyond it’s charitable donations.
“I think we’re trying to pay homage to [drag culture],” Vargas said. “It’s really an act of queer resistance within the institution.”
The QRC encourages attendees to bring tips for the performers, a tradition that is essential in drag performances.
“It’s just kind of electric,” Baylee Adair, a Western student, said about being in the crowd. “I think everybody is just really excited to be a part of it.”
Each performer brought their personal flair to their number, from Eevie The Human’s comedic lip sync with a bottle of champagne, to Irene Dubois’s multiple high energy costume reveals.
Performers like Romeo and Kylie Mooncakes ran through the audience, collecting tips and soaking in the spotlight.
Mooncakes, a Seattle Drag Queen, hosted the show this year after performing in it the previous year.
“I feel like with so many college crowds, as opposed to club crowds… there’s so much energy,” Mooncakes said. “That just makes me so happy to see, and I hope that if they go to any show in the future that they keep that energy.”
Mooncakes found drag on the internet, and had her first performances in local Seattle clubs like Neighbors.
“It was such a rush, it flew by, I felt like I blinked and it was over,” Mooncakes said about her first performances. “There’s such an energy that you can’t really experience anywhere else.”
For Western senior Romeo, this was their first big drag king performance.
“I kind of blacked out, I processed like half the song,” Romeo said.
Romeo was also the only drag king of the night, and one of three Western students who participated.
“I started drag king because of last year’s drag show, I was like, ‘this is fucking great!’ there were like three kings up there,” Romeo said.
Perlita Picante “La Hot Mamasita” was also one of a kind, starring as the only burlesque performer of the night.
“Even though she’s not a drag queen or drag king, she’s still queer and she’s still a performer,” Vargas said.
The QRC staff started planning the drag show early in fall quarter, finding performers from social media callouts to recommendations from past queens who have participated, Vargas said.
There is no audition process to perform, and the QRC encourages all students to apply, although acceptance is on a first-come, first-served basis according to Vargas.
When talking about the future of the drag show, Vargas has clear goals.
“We’ve been trying to diversify the performers … let’s not just have Seattle queens or just one type of queen, let’s have kings, let’s have people from Bellingham,” Vargas said. “I’d like to have a good mix, not just diversity for diversity’s sake, but because this is what the queer community actually is.”