Otterbein senior Bobby Moody never thought he would become a drag queen. The health promotions and fitness major was only a first-year student when he was approached about joining the Otterbein Drag Show. Now, Moody is an experienced queen.
Otterbein360: How did you get interested in drag?
Moody: I watched RuPaul’s Drag Race and stuff, and that’s fun. What happened was my spring semester of my freshman year, my roommate was doing drag show and I had a friend, Anthony Murphy, doing drag show and we were talking one day and they were like, “Would you be interested in doing it?” and I was kind of half like, “Yeah, that would be fun or whatever.” One day, I was sitting in the CC [Cardinal’s Nest in the Campus Center] and I got a call from James [Skully] and asked if I could come downstairs. I asked, “Was it bad?” like I didn’t know what it was. I thought it was like a personal issue. I went down there and they asked me “How would you like to be a queen?” and I said, “I can’t. I don’t have anything. I’m not prepared.” They reassured me, they would help me and I said, “No, like I don’t want to do it.” They said, “Sit down, you’re doing it.” That’s basically how I got started and then we had to keep it a secret. I couldn’t tell anyone, which actually worked out a lot better than I thought it would.
Q: How does someone get into the Otterbein Drag Show?
A: Well, usually they come from the Theatre and Dance Department. I think I might have been the first [dance] minor, but don’t quote me on that. That’s how it’s always happened. We kind of have a selection process that we try and do strategically. So, every year, obviously, a queen is going to have to leave because they’re a senior, so we’ll go through people who are interested or we think might be a really great option to be a queen... Once you’re in it, you’re in it, unless you don’t want to be, and I guess we would just find a replacement. I don’t think that’s ever happened. Once you’re accepted in, you’re called a resident queen, then a new queen.
Q: After being accepted into the drag show, what is the step-by-step process leading up to the show for queens?
A: Well, we have a meeting. We talk about our theme, usually with our hosts. Usually there are two hosts; they’ve always been female. We’ll pick a theme and then pick our numbers based on that theme. We’ll pick our songs, it can be one, multiple, whatever you want to do. We’ll pick our dancers. A lot of times, people will pick their friends, but I know for me coming in, I didn’t know people that well, so I was just looking around my classes thinking who can do the [stuff] I want them to do [laughs], and then you start your rehearsal process. Now we rehearse on Sundays from 12-5 p.m. We had our first meeting mid-September, and our first rehearsal, I want to say was the last week of September. So we’ve had more time this year than usual to put it together. So we have, what, five hours for six Sundays to put it together completely, which is going through the whole process of having the lights designed, having our sound together, having our performances and choreography put together.
We used to cut our own music, but this year we have Joaquin [Silva] doing that for us. So that’s been nice, and we’ve always had a stage manager, so we kind of run it like a main stage production. We have help administratively, and we’ve been really lucky to have a lot of help from Julia Ferreri [Faculty Adviser]. She’s been a great deal of help. Annie Schroeder [Production Manager] has been a lot of help and Arri Allen [Stage Manager].
This year especially we’ve done a lot of research, like going downtown to see a show or watching RuPaul’s Drag Race or doing research online. We have been doing makeup practice days. We have to go out and buy all of our own stuff: We have to buy our own makeup, our own clothes, our own shoes and we buy our own wigs. Put it together ourselves, so that can be a costly process leading up to the show, but at this point, you know, we do it for Otterbein because it’s a fun time. It’s absolutely a tradition at this point, and I think it’s something that’s not only fun but we’ve turned it into more of an educational process. The importance of it isn’t just for everyone to have a good time. It really says something about the LGBT community at Otterbein, and it’s important for that. I think it’s incredibly important. Celebrating the LGBT community, especially with the recent Supreme Court ruling, and celebrating female empowerment: I think those things are incredibly important especially at a liberal arts school.
This year’s Otterbein Drag Show opened on November 8 at 7:30 p.m. in the Pit Theatre in the basement of the Campus Center.
