With the Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium packed to the brim, MOB and LGBTQ Services hosted their sixth annual drag show with headliner Honey Davenport, who was on Season 11 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” The other performers included Chanel, Jade Devere, Ryder Knightly and Skarlet Overkill.

Being my first drag show, I heard talk of previous shows and had ideas of how it would go. To say I was floored by how amazing it was would be the understatement of a lifetime. Every performance was extremely high energy and so exciting that I lost my voice for a bit from all the cheering I did. 

Each performance got me more and more hyped. During the performance, students could hold out dollar bills to tip the performers, which led some students to get a bit more attention than others. Whether it be crawling to take a bill with their mouth or giving a quick lap dance after taking a bill, every interaction was exciting to see and hilarious when it happened to one of your friends. 

The music that the performers lip-synced was hit after hit after hit. Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance” and “Applause,” “For Your Entertainment” by Adam Lambert and “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” by Celine Dion were just some of the songs performed that night. A personal highlight for me was Jade Devere, who, after performing the previously mentioned Celine Dion song, went into a rendition of “WAP” in the style of Dion’s singing with the crowd putting up their flashlights for the deeply emotional song. 

In the middle of the program as an intermission, Davenport and Devere led a Q&A where students lined up to ask them questions, ranging from “What was your first safe space?” to “How long does it take you to get ready?” Davenport said that drag lets you make your own artistic world that you let other people into. When discussing recent political challenges to drag, she said, “if rules don’t make sense, you question them, if they don’t have the right answers, you go elsewhere,” and that politicians actively make it harder for people to talk and understand each other. 

In the conclusion of the event, Davenport thanked the student organizers, including Grace MacDougall ’24 and Deon Rosado ’24 from LGBTQ Services, and Caro Carneiro ’24 and Gabe Yochum ’26 from MOB. In response, the student organizers brought out bouquets for all the performers. 

Ultimately, if you have the opportunity to see a drag show, you absolutely should! If it has as much energy and passion as this one did, you will not forget it. Full videos of the show can be found on YouTube, uploaded by central Pennsylvania drag channel DragStylz.