When thinking of the drag show, a few things come to mind: heels, makeup, dresses, dances and comments from some women, like, “Why does he have better legs than me?” However, the emergence of a new drag show hopes to broaden student perspectives of what drag encompasses.
Senior women’s, gender and sexuality studies major Xop Alexopoulos is organizing the drag king show as part of her senior project for WGSS.
“We want to introduce the educational and activist sides of drag to the show rather than it being for just entertainment and charity,” Alexopoulos said.
The show, Alexopoulos said, will feature a talkback section, or an education prelude, to the performance. She said she wants to bring a new perspective on how others perceive genders of drag.
“I want to bring the questions of ‘Why drag exists?’ and ‘Why people do drag?’ to the room before we watch the show,” she said.
The educational element of the drag king show is something not presented in the drag queen show. The two organizations are independent of one another, as Cap and Dagger, an organization in the Theatre Department, hosts the drag queen show.
“I hope people will pick up on how liberating drag is for some people and how some connect with it as a truer expression of themselves,” Alexopoulos said.
Alexopoulos said the drag king show is scheduled to take place in April or May.
The idea of the possible new group on campus, the drag kings, was met with enthusiasm and support by the queens, as well as some surprise since the new group has not been well publicized.
“I don’t think it’s any competition because they are two really different platforms,” said Anthony Murphy, a senior theater major. During the drag queen show, he is better known as Shelita Buffet. “I think we should come together and raise awareness.”
Described by Murphy as a “new art form,” he said it will be an interesting development and counterpart to the drag queen’s shows.
“I think drag kings can be really funny,” Murphy said. “When you’re a drag queen, you can pull off the sassy sexy thing but that’s harder for the drag kings to do.”
The hope is that the creation of the drag kings will help promote and increase the popularity of both shows.
“It’s hard getting back into the heels,” Murphy said. “But once you do it, it’s really fun, and it’s for a great cause so you forget about the pain, and you’re like, ‘OK, let’s do this.’”
The first drag show since last April is Saturday, Nov. 23. The theme for the show is “Don’t Forget the Twerki…ki” in honor of Thanksgiving.
The show was originally planned to take place in October as a Halloween-themed show, but due to space availability at the Pit Theatre, the show had to be postponed until November.
The play on words of “twerki-ki” instead of turkey, was used to combine the dance move of twerking and “ki-ki,” which is another word for a party. “It’s about a bunch of friends coming together, dressed up, hanging out, having a good time, and that’s like our version of Thanksgiving for us,” Murphy said.
Sophomore health promotion and fitness major Bobby Moody, better known in the drag show as Amanda Screw, is aware that the drag show date is quickly approaching.
“I’ll admit that it’s sneaking up and I don’t feel fully prepared just yet, but it’s going to be great,” Moody said.
Tickets for the drag queen show are currently on sale in the Campus Center. Students can also buy tickets online at the Otterbein drag queen website, otterdrag.com.
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