Students time traveled back to the 90's at the second annual drag show held in Lawrence Hall’s ballroom on January 24. Point Park invited Bambi Deerest, Dixie Surewood, Blade Matthews, Divauna Diore, Cindy Crotchford and Miss V to perform to a variety of 1990's hits and pop culture references.
“It’s cool that we actually have a school that’s putting on a drag show and having queens that aren’t typical queens,” Deerest said. “We’re kind of alternative, we’re kind of fun, we’re all types. It’s not just like pretty pageant stuff. The fact that Point Park is having that and allowing that is really cool.”
Deerest and Surewood are no strangers to the campus. Deerest enrolled at Point Park as a musical theater student in the Conservatory of Performing Arts (COPA). Surewood attended the university for two years as an education student.
“It’s crazy to be back,” Surewood said. “This place is so much different than what it used to be. It’s good to see the school’s expanding and growing. There are a lot of good memories here. I always liked this place because you can just do what you wanted and no one looks at you weird because everyone just accepts it.”
Drag culture was not as accepted in the past. The crowd seemed more in touch with this type of culture during this performance, according to Deerest.
“It’s definitely come a long way and I’m excited that the student body might be more progressive than it was then,” Deerest said. “It makes me have a good memory of college, and I’m always happy to come back.”
The queens took turns performing for the crowd. Students filled in the rows of chairs and gathered around the stage to dance and sing along. Avril Lavigne’s Sk8er Boi, Ciara’s 1, 2 Step and a Disney medley were among the hits played for the performance. Two audience members were also selected by Deerest and Surewood to go head to head in a drag race and lip syncing contest.
Before Crotchford took the stage, Deerest introduced the queen as the definition of drag in 2017.
“I love Bambi to death,” said Crotchford. “It’s awesome. Everybody’s different. We’re all different body shapes, sizes, weight. Boobs are bigger, hair is bigger, white, black, whatever. It’s drag. I am more comfortable in my skin, so that’s who I am.”
Deerest agreed that drag culture allowed her to be who she wanted to be.
“I didn’t get to play the roles I wanted to play,” Deerest said. “I wasn’t able to play an ingénue or the comic relief. I was always stuck playing roles that I looked like. They wouldn’t let me transform in to something. And then I found drag and drag was my way of being every character that I wanted to be all at once.”
A friend of the women gave some insight to the personalities behind all of the makeup and costumes.
“It’s definitely crazy and it’s never a dull moment,” Olivia Barger said. “They’re just really funny, they’re really nice and they’re very humble. They look out for everybody. They never try to step on somebody else, they always try to push each other up, and it’s definitely a big sisterhood. It’s just really nice to see women be nice to each other because you don’t really see that in college or high school. It’s nice to be with women who want to make sure you’re okay and make sure you’re the star of your moment instead of stealing your moment.”
If any student missed the drag show on campus, Deerest, Surewood and Crotchford perform at the Blue Moon in Lawrenceville every Wednesday. They also have themed shows on Saturdays, according to Surewood.
