“DRAGula.” “Drine Negroni.” “John Voyage.” These were just some of the drag names of the performers in Trans Book Club’s drag show held in the Harlene Marley Theater on Saturday. After introducing the club, co-President Mara Thomas ’27, the aforementioned DRAGula, announced the first act: fellow Trans Book Club co-President Bee Barton-Biegelsen ’27.
Before Barton-Biegelsen could even start, there was a slight issue: Thomas was unaware of Barton-Biegelsen’s drag name. Barton-Biegelsen consulted a friend while the audience hummed the Jeopardy! theme song and awaited an answer, which was revealed about 30 seconds later: “Microphlobia.” In a Rory-Gilmore-has-a-gender-crisis type dance, Barton-Biegelsen traipsed around the stage in a flannel skirt and brown sweater. Other performers danced to songs ranging from Colter Wall’s “Ballad of a Law Abiding Sophisticate” to Billie Eilish’s “LUNCH.”
“Masala Kumari” (Mihir Lennox ’27), was an audience favorite. Lennox prefaced his act by saying, “This song is from a playlist my racist ex made for me.” Stela Cole’s “I Shot Cupid” came on and Lennox danced behind the platform before revealing the pièce de résistance: a sword with the tattered colors of the Mexican flag attached to it. Lennox’s brilliant sword-wielding skills were on full display, as well as his dancing prowess. He was one of many for whom Saturday was their first time in drag. In a message to the Collegian, he wrote about why he started doing drag and its meaning to him. “There was a weird amount of freedom with [drag]. Growing up gay, I was always looking for any representation and after moving to America, I found drag… [and] I noticed there weren’t a lot of drag queens who shared my cultural and ethnic background being shown on TV and social media, and that just made me think about drag more,” he said. “What would an Indian drag queen look like?…Knowing that I was being that Desi drag queen made performing all the more fun… It was freeing, I could be anyone. The thing about drag is that there are no rules…. It’s campy and high fashion and goofy, and I think that’s why I love it so much.”
Other acts included “Ginger Ale” (Cameron Bellaria ’28), who did a burlesque dance to Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love.” This was followed by “Lexi Pro” (Ethan Goldberg ’25), who gave a more musical performance, playing original songs, such as “Homophobic Chicken,” on a piano, which ended with the audience singing along.
The final act was another crowd pleaser. “John Voyage” (John Franz ’25) came onstage. When technical difficulties arose, he responded by announcing, “I’ll just make out with my hat, I guess.” After restarting, Franz sang “Once Upon A Dream” from Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty” as an ode to his hat. Halfway through, the tone changed, and what had previously appeared to be a simple Disney song was actually a voice over. Franz’s voice carried over the speakers as his hat spoke disparagingly to him. After about 30 seconds, Franz threw his hat across the room in retaliation. Instantly, Chappell Roan’s “My Kink is Karma” began blasting to screams of excitement and awe from the audience. Franz danced provocatively, leading to a partial striptease. He took a bow to a standing ovation.
Franz, who is no new face to drag, wrote about why he continues to come back to it in a message to the Collegian: “What always impresses me is how welcoming and safe the environment is, and how willing everyone is to cheer, to laugh, to clap along to whatever is happening onstage. It really lets me have a completely unique outlet to do all kinds of crazy stuff I would never do anywhere else, and it’s so freeing and rewarding.” When asked how they thought the event went, Thomas said, “I think it was a huge success. I had a lot of fun. I had a great time.” Barton-Biegelsen echoed this sentiment: “It was insane. We had a great turnout.”