By ABBY BRAVO
Staff Writer
Saint Rose students gathered in the Saint Joseph’s Auditorium Friday night for the annual drag show that the college puts to accompany Rose Rock. The event was organized by both the Student Events Board and Student Association to keep the traditional drag show going.
Even with COVID-19 restrictions, there was a fairly large turnout for the queens that performed. There were five performers in total, each with their own unique routines and outfits. Kashi Go’Lean opened the night with a monologue-like performance about a “heat wave” followed by queens Amanda Blair, Gemini DaBarbay, Typhoid Mary, and closing with Philly Pina.
Jordyn Veihdeffer, president of the Student Events Board, stated that this was the first drag show she had been involved with. “We don’t normally put [the drag show] on, Identity does, but SEB took it on this year with SA, and we were able to contact all these drag queens to come to campus,” said Veideffer.
Each queen had her own style of performing, ranging from Typhoid Mary dramatically lip-syncing heartfelt songs, to Amanda Blair’s energetic mashup of classic Disney Channel theme songs. They performed twice each with an intermission in between that was filled with more fun activities.
In between the first and second round there had been a “Drag Queen Kahoot” game where students in person and on zoom could participate to win a drag themed gift basket. Along with that, the queens mingled with the crowd during this time and took photos with students while music played.
The whole event was hosted by queen Philly Pina, who had kept the crowd engaged with both clever and raunchy jokes. The night started out with the first round of performances from all of the queens which really showed how different each of their vibes were.
Host Philly Pina had stated “being able to “see people and [getting] to see a live performance again,” was the best part of the performance tonight. Although there was limited interaction with the crowd, the queens, especially Philly Pina, had found ways to interact with students such as borrowing props from them to use in their performances.
The event was modified from past years to comply with COVID-19 guidelines, yet students still seemed to enjoy themselves. Noelia Lagos, a senior Psychology major, has experienced three of the college’s drag shows throughout her college career, along with others outside of the school.
“I feel like COVID gave today’s show a different vibe. I know in past years the show has been more interactive. However, I do think that today’s show was a great experience,” said Lagos.
The show ended with all of the queens coming on stage and participating in a “[COVID-19] friendly” dance of the “Macarena” where all of the attendees danced with the queens from their chairs.
