After a semester hiatus, the drag show is back at Otterbein.
Senior theatre design technology major PJ Peters and senior theatre major Zach Paugh were adamant for the show this year.
There is usually one drag show each semester, but conflict with faculty prevented the show last spring.
“The faculty were concerned about alcohol being consumed at the show,” Peters said.
Peters is in charge of marketing and ticket sales for the drag show. He is also the show’s production manager and created guidelines that take care of matters in question. All the resolutions permit the show while standing up for what the show is supposed to represent and why it exists in the first place.
“We’re not dancing around in our underwear just for the fun of it,” Peters said.
Peters' production of the upcoming show aims to bring more of an educational aspect to the audience. Peters said he thinks the show is even more relevant now because of the values of social change groups like Freezone and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
Since last spring, Peters and Paugh have been attending meetings, sending emails and making compromises with faculty members in order to bring the show back. One of those compromises uses part of the money raised by the show to compensate police officers who will enforce a no-container policy at the door.
Paugh has been involved with the drag show since his freshman year at Otterbein. He said he believes in its importance because it gives people the ability to experiment with theater's variety.
“I’m just another one of the queens fighting for something that they believe in and that they really want to do,” he said. “I think the drag show is a necessity to have at Otterbein because it brings something different to the community.”
Paugh said the name of this drag show, “Back With a Vengeance,” is not a coincidence. Since the drag show was unable to happen last spring, the queens wanted to create a theme that was powerful.
“We’re back with a vengeance not just because we’re angry that we didn’t get to have one, but we’re back with a vengeance being that this show is marking the change of the course of drag shows,” he said.
Although he didn’t want to give anything away, Paugh said there are many new things about this year’s drag show.
Paugh will return to the upcoming show as Cici Ping Pong for his farewell number. Other queens include Bobby Moody, Alex Huffman and Jeff Gise. Two new queens will also be announced at the show, which is Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m. at the Pit Theatre inside the Campus Center.
