Students wow audience in student drag show
Illustration by Jordan Boyer | The Daily Eastern News Lady Save the Bees performs a routine before hosting the 2nd annual Student Drag Show at the 7th Street Underground at the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union Thursday night. (The performers did not want to reveal their real names)
October 26, 2017
Editor’s note: The performers at the drag show did not want to reveal their identity and asked to use only their stage names.
Audience members roared and shook the 7th Street Underground of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union Thursday night as student performers took the stage during the student drag show.
The student drag show featured various student performers dancing and singing the night away, with the prize being the chance to open in front of the “Queens” on Monday.
Mother Natwhore performs at the second annual Student Drag Show at the 7th Street Underground at the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union Thursday night. (The performers did not want to reveal their real names)
After an electrifying, sold out show, performers Plain Jane Lady Berglain, Mother Natwhore and Billy Rose walked away as champions of the EIU Pride Student Drag Show Thursday night.
The trio will show off their talents when they open for the Diva Drag Show Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. in the University Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.
The show was opened and hosted by Lady Save the Bees who said, “yes, save the bees y’all.”
Lady Save the Bees got her start with drag by doing makeup and performed for the first time at last year’s student show.
Since then, her passion for drag has continued to grow. Along with this event, she will be performing at the Diva Drag Show and is booked at various events throughout the state.
Marge Kilbane, a graduate student, is not new to the drag scene but said she was excited to see her friends “kill it” in the show.
However, for many performers and audience members, it was their first time in this environment.
But, as many of the performers and speakers said, students were able to come to campus and have an environment where they can experience drag and feel welcomed.
For Charleston High School students like Madi Coleman, this event and groups like Pride are nice to have in such a small community.
“They give a safe space for members of the (gender and sexual diversity) community to go and be exposed to things they wouldn’t otherwise,” Coleman said.
Mother Natwhore (left) and Madame Pomme (right) perform a skit involving Mother Natwhore beating up Madame Pomme wearing a mask of President Donald Trump. (The performers did not want to reveal their real names)
After Lady Save the Bees’ opening performance, the show began with performers Billy Rose, Chastity Lapierre and Mother Natwhore strutting their stuff down the runway.
The first act of show featured lip-synced performances by Billy Rose, Chastity Lapierre, Mother Natwhore, Madame Pomme and David Blowme.
During the intermission of the show, Storm Neals, head of the event and member of EIU Pride, welcomed audience members to the stage to do their best drag impersonations.
The second act of the show featured performances by Chastity Lapierre, Plain Jane Lady Berglain and Mother Natwhore.
The final performance of the night was Mother Natwhore’s routine to “Swine” by Lady Gaga. The performance showed Mother Natwhore beating up Donald Trump while audience members cheered and hollered.
The Diva Drag Show on Monday will donate all proceeds of the show to the Sexual Assault Counseling and Information Service.
Kendra Hennis can be reached at 581-2812 or kehennis@eiu.edu.
