The League of Young Voters

When students passed me in the hotel lobby after USM’s 8^th Annual Royal Majesty Drag Show, emphatically signing, tapping me on the back and mouthing “you were hot!”, my heart sang louder than the speakers could have blasted any of the evening’s lip-synced ballads. That my performance resonated even with those unable to hear the music proved an energetic victory for me as a performer and drag as an art form.

I have performed and watched drag shows in many disparate environments, but at least one similarity between them holds true: the audience and performers alike come to recharge their batteries. Drag can serve as an empowering form of escapism (particularly from socially-imposed expectations of accordance of biological sex and gender) for participants. The departure in drag shows from the mundane, specifically the change in conception of time, space and focus can transform the event into almost a ritual, where the performers titillate the audience with the manner in which they apply energy within their acts, and the audience members feed the performers with the appreciative expression of their spectatorship.

Backstage, student and professional performers prepared ourselves side by side, in a flurry of the various accoutrements of our craft: bindings were wound, pantyhose tugged, faces contoured and packages packed. People unabashedly asked each other for advice and q-tips. Seasoned performers gave stage-fraught rookies pep-talks, and drag novices expressed their admiration to those more experienced in the field.

The show, hosted by Crystal Ball and her rainbow eye shadow, consisted of professional performances in the first half and student acts, which were judged for competition, in the second. I opened the show with The Cliks’ cover of Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me River”, beginning with glittery tears, filling the piece with angsty undulations and ending with a broken heart. From their response, I feel think that the spectators felt Goldie Peacock’s tortured pain. All sorts of different and beautiful people made up the 600-member audience, but by the end of the evening, the entire crowd had gone wild, united by the pleasure of seeing oh-so-many archetypes turned on their heads and sprinkled generously with sequins.

Can’t get enough Drag? Come see Goldie Peacock and a bunch of other fabulous performers this Sunday, 12/23 at 9:30 pm at Styxx for Bunny Wonderland’s Back to the 80’s Birthday Bash. 21+, $3 admission, bring extra for drinks and tips!