Seattle University’s LGBTQ+ club, Triangle Club, hosted its annual drag show in the Campion Ballroom, with attendance open to the public. The theme this year was “Wickedly Queer,” a nod to the smash-hit musical and all things magical. Triangle Club selects the theme for the drag show fall quarter of each academic year to prepare for the spring quarter performance.

Collin Durfee, a fourth-year political science major and event coordinator for Triangle Club, was won over by the theme due to “Wicked”’s staying power as a piece of media and its iconic color palette of pink and green, which festooned the ballroom during the event. A plastic yellow brick road clung to the floor as attendees entered, transporting them into the magic of the show.

“I think drag is magical in and of itself… There’s a magic that we conjure as drag performers when we get on stage. Not all of us are doing ‘Popular’ or ‘The Wizard and I,’ but we’re still doing wicked magic,” Durfee said.

Durfee performed in the show as his drag persona “Gayle Marriage,” alongside a combination of student and professional performers. Triangle Club also partnered with Cornish Drag Club to highlight four Cornish performers, a show of unity in light of the Seattle U-Cornish merger. Durfee wanted to foster a welcoming environment for Cornish students during a time when there are many uncertainties about how students’ programs are going to proceed.

Another key element of the show is its hosts. Triangle Club invited Kylie Mooncakes and King Jack to emcee and perform this year. The show represents a full-circle moment for Kylie Mooncakes, who attended one of her first drag shows as an audience member at Seattle U when she was around 20 years old. As a cohost, she wore pink, and during her set she wore green—lest the audience forget the theme. For Kylie Mooncakes, drag is more than the outfits and alter egos.

“Drag to me has always represented the yin yang of protest and fight, but also celebration and joy. So I hope while we’re in these moments together, celebrating each other, celebrating our queer student body… I hope we can remember to revel in this, and then tomorrow, we get up and continue to stand on ten toes for what we believe in,” Kylie Mooncakes said.

King Jack was invited to emcee after Triangle Club officers learned that they had been asked to step away from their teaching job after harassment due to their night and weekend performances as a drag king. King Jack took many precautions to keep their life as a high school English teacher and drag king separate, but they were outed by a cyberbullying campaign. 

Masee Anderson, third-year forensic psychology major and president of Triangle Club, saw this as an opportunity to support a community member.

“The time we’re living in, I can’t even say it’s unprecedented. We’ve seen the signs, and we’ve all chosen to not do anything… and the people that have done something, they need so much more love and support than we give them. I was unaware of what happened to King Jack. When we were planning the drag show we saw it on the news and Collin brought it up, and that’s how we decided, ‘we’re community, a community sticks together,’” Anderson said.

King Jack performed the first number of the night in rainbow spandex with a heart cutout, strutting into the crowd to show off their intense geometric makeup. After the set, they retreated backstage to change into a glam late-night show host look to emcee, completed by a wig coiffed with pomade and glitter. It was the first time King Jack performed in two months, a welcome return after a turbulent time in their life.

“Going from a very busy life of being a teacher during the day, being a drag king at night, and then all of a sudden, I no longer had anything. It was really hard. And so how the show went tonight was great… it just felt like getting back on the bike,” King Jack said.

The drag show offered an escape to its audience through bewitching performances, makeup and costumes. The lip sync battle was another beloved annual tradition, in which audience members volunteered to give their best drag act in front of the crowd. They had just a few minutes to adorn themselves in props, engineer a persona and practice their act before competing for a tiara and bragging rights.

The show is as much a celebration as it was a reminder to share in community, whether it be with fellow Seattle U students, Cornish students, the queer community and the Seattle area. 

“To my queer students, to the students that don’t fit in, the outsiders, the weirdos, like, I’ve been there. It’s hard. But keep going, there is a spot for you in this world even if it feels like all the light has left. You are that light,” King Jack said.

Drag is an art form currently under attack in states like Texas because, as with other forms of art, there is debate about appropriateness and what is provocative. The Seattle U drag show demonstrates that drag is not only joyous, but essential in times when provocation is necessary.