PRIDE hosts variety show
December 4, 2018
To display the talented members of their organization and give people a safe space to be who they are, PRIDE, which stands for People Respecting Identity Diversity for Everyone, hosted a variety show on Nov. 30 in the Kiowa Ex-Students Room.
The variety show was composed of 10 acts that showcased the different talented members of PRIDE. It began with a performance from the hostess, Tiffany, a local drag queen that has helped with PRIDE events in the past. She opened her performance with a musical number and made the audience laugh the whole night with her banter between acts.
“I was part of the [drag] show last semester and that was my first time doing drag. I loved it, performing with amazing performers is an experience. Just being able to do it again is an honor,” Logan Haddock, English senior, said.
Agatha, Logan Haddock’s drag persona, was a hit with her two performances during the show. Along with this was the “Cinderfella” short play that performed by three members, an original poem, two more drag performances and one of the members talked about the struggles she’s faced since coming out. The show flowed smoothly and Tiffany’s dialog between the acts kept the energy alive between the performances. However, there were some technical difficulties with the microphone and sound system throughout the night.
“The mic issue definitely took away from the show. I’m not sure they handled it as well as they could of, but I also don’t know what I would’ve done differently has I been in that situation. I would suggest having a plan B next time,” Brenna Rhodes, political science and pre law junior, said.
The drag performances consisted of the performers lip syncing to well-known songs to entertain the audience. The music for the performances had a lot of static and the microphone was giving a lot of feedback when Tiffany and the other performers would speak into it. PRIDE officers attempted several times to rectify the issue but each time, the music and microphone would work for a few minutes then would have trouble again.
This became a major part of the dialog for the show. The hostess, Tiffany, brushed off the issues with funny commentary and cussing out the sound system. Not only that, but the performers were encouraged to do their acts again once the system was fixed since it was too bad for most of them to lip sync to. Toward the end of the show, the members working the sound system realized the issue was that they had two microphones on causing interference. After turning one of the microphones off, the remainder of the show flowed smoothly with no technical issues.
“We have a lot of talented members that do poetry, drag, and other things. It was just a fun way to get everyone together, show some performances, and get PRIDE’s name out there,” Lia Wiley, senator for PRIDE, said.
The organization puts on a drag show each spring to allow people to come out and enjoy drag queen and king performances from members as well as local queens. This was the first time PRIDE has done a variety show, however. PRIDE officers wanted to give other members the opportunity to showcase their own talents outside of drag and thought a variety show would be the way to go.
“PRIDE is meant to be a space where anybody, not matter what their background, can come to our organization and feel as though they have a place to exist as themselves,” Zarya Maiato, marketing chair for PRIDE, said.
