Crossdressing for Charity: LGBTQ Student Alliance Benefit Drag Show

Professional and aspiring drag kings and queens alike performed at IUPUI last Saturday to support Indiana Youth Group.

By Paris Garnier

Drag queens and kings. They wear thick makeup, heavy wigs, duct tape, and glue. They’re often considered a staple of gay culture, common to clubs and bars all over the world. Last Saturday night, a few made their way across the stage at the IUPUI Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Student Alliance’s annual charity drag show.

The show began after a brief introduction of the beneficiary, Indiana Youth Group (IYG), which is a local organization dedicated to supporting LGBTQ youth. All tips given to dancers went to IYG. Due to a lack of complete records, it is unknown if this was the fourth or fifth drag show, but the event began as a prom for LGBTQ high school students.

A runway stage was wedged in the collapsible wall between CE 450C and CE 450B, so that the dancers had one room to perform in and another to act as backstage. There were seven performers in all; some were amateurs, some were professionals. All but one dancer, known only as Sleazy Nicks, performed multiple times.

Some queens, like Apollo Summers and Ava Taylor, have been doing drag for years. Others like Cassia Brooks and Ryan Cox are fairly new to the art.

The nature of each routine was singular to each dancer. Queens Apollo Summers and Cassia Brooks had highly physical routines with flips, drops, and splits, often done in high heels. Others focused on interacting with the audience or lip-syncing with the song.

“[My] favorite part would have to be the reaction from people in the crowd when I do tricks or costumes, least favorite part: the next day when I’m really sore,” Summers said.

Having a background in dance and keeping in shape are crucial to physical performances.

“I go to the gym every day of the week and I stretch every day at the gym for at least 30 minutes, ‘cause if not, I would not be able to do half of those tricks,” Summers said. “Once you practice enough, it’s a piece of cake.”

“I give 100 percent because I used to be a ballet dancer and a gymnast, so I do like, backhand springs, splits, death drops, all that kind of stuff,” Brooks said. “Long story short, my first show, I fell like three times. It takes a lot of practice, but I’m getting better at it now.”

“The thing that I probably have to say I hate the most about drag is how long it takes to put on makeup. It’s so tedious and annoying,” Taylor, aka Laken Garvin-Hall, said.

“My least favorite [thing about drag] is definitely having to physically change my appearance. I’m duct taping my chest back right now and it’s not comfortable,” Cox, better known as IUPUI student Lauren Hartlieb, said.

Drag, like all other forms of performance art, can be tedious and difficult. But each queen and king have their reasons for doing what they do.

“I started doing drag on my 21st birthday, this last December. I’ve been a performer my whole life. I’ve done ballet, gymnastics, cheerleading, so this is my way of being able to continue being on stage,” Brooks said.

“I love the chance that I can be someone else and I can get into this other side of me and be able to express it and be able to have a different kind of mask on where I can do things I can’t do as Lauren,” Cox said.