Chris+Bouchard+04-01-10

GBLT Puts on a Drag Show

By; Chris Bouchard bouchardc@students.nescom.edu

BANGOR - Last night a very special cross-dressing event was held at the Furman Center on the Husson/Nescom Campus, courtesy of GBLT. GBLT is a Gay Straight Alliance group on campus, and it certainly showed that they put a remarkable amount of effort into the drag show. Not only did several students show up, dressed in drag, but there were also three special guests that started the show off.

The stage was set up to resemble something close to a modeling runway. The show began with what appeared to be a voluptuous woman walking on stage. Her disguise was soon destroyed once she began to speak in an immensely low tone. The previously described man-lady was named Chanel Honeywell, and she acted as somewhat of a Master of Ceremonies. She introduced the first act; a woman by the name of Augusta Piddle. media type="youtube" key="ZzustzX-N48" height="376" width="467" align="center"

Piddle sported a goatee with glasses, and was wearing what looked to be a pink towel or dress with blue pajama pants. She proceeded to tell a few jokes, which were received wonderfully by most of the audience. Piddle began to talk about meeting a cute guy and asked the audience if he should call him back. The applause of the audience assured him/her that it was a good idea, but unfortunately he received an answering machine. This somehow was the introduction to a dance number in which she lip synced to a Britney Spears song.

Piddle and Honeywell continued to perform lip-syncing routines as well as occasionally talk with the audience. Suddenly a new performer, Katya Lukin (get it?), approached the stage. Lukin's entrance was very over-the-top, but the way in which it was executed showed that there was plenty of meticulous planning and rehearsal that went into his/her whole act.

Lukin was transported to the stage in a coffin wheeled in by a shirtless man. There was a brief moment of silence, and the members of the audience seemed to be confused. Suddenly Lukin burst out of the coffin and began lip-syncing to a Lady Gaga song.

Lukin, Honeywell, and Piddle continued to perform for a while and eventually the spotlight changed to the contestants in the drag competition. The drag competition involved Husson/NESCom students walking onto the runway-like stage dressed as the opposite sex. There were over ten cross-dressers on stage at one point; men in dresses with stuffed bras and women wearing baggy clothes sporting painted-on facial hair.

Afterward the cross-dressers were asked to stand on stage while the winner was to be chosen.

The winner of the Drag King contest was Mike Crapper.

The winner of the Drag Queen contest was Tayssa Tay.

"This was just kind of an experimental thing," said Tay (whose real name is Tyler Cheng) in response to winning. "I just threw caution to the wind and figured I'd try it out.

(Video was shot by Travis Sweet, and uploaded by Josh Powers)