If you’re a drag enthusiast under the age of 21, your options are limited. Where will you find a performance space to help you kickstart your drag career? How can you access a warm indoor spot to connect with other queer youth while supporting charitable organizations? Where will you go to chat, cackle and meticulously critique hem lengths without a streaming service that can keep you up to date on the new season of RuPaul’s Drag Race? Head on down to Tailwind Cafe Sundays at 7 p.m. to find Seattle University students and alumni hosting a Drag Race Watch Party! 

The Sunday watch party, which is showing the 18th season of Drag Race, a competitive reality TV show for drag queens, started as the passion project of Second-year Anthropology and Sociology Major Mio Dacanay and Seattle U alumnus Collin Durfee, both of whom are drag artists and performers. Through observing the gaps in Seattle’s under-21 drag scene, the two noticed that spaces for young queer people to connect, beginner drag artists to perform and non-bar spaces that showed the new season of Drag Race were lacking.

“It’s very hard for amateur drag performers to find their own professional events to do,” Durfee said. “Usually, the only options are school performances, which doesn’t help for a lot of performers who may not be in school anymore like me, or were never in school to begin with.”

Dacanay and Durfee selected local business Tailwind Cafe for its warm environment and staff, as well as its proximity to Seattle U. 

“I saw that they were prepping a venue space in the back, and I literally went up to the counter and asked, ‘Hi, can I produce a drag show here?’ God said unto thee: walk forward with the audacity of a cis white man, and the world will be your oyster,” Dacanay said.

Commercial breaks in Drag Race serve as intermissions, during which drag performers turn off the projector and lip-sync to an energized audience. Durfee’s drag persona, Gayle Marriage, delivered a hypnotizing lip sync to “Short Skirt/Long Jacket” by CAKE, stealing animated glances at audience members through bright pink and purple eyeshadow. 

Dacanay’s drag persona, Holly Cow, captivated audience members by twisting gracefully across tables and the floor in a sultry lip sync to “In Love With a Monster” by Fifth Harmony. Guest performer and Cornish alumnus Yara Celina performed “Cherry Do You Love Me” by Chrissy Chlapecka, donning a red latex dress as her drag persona, the enigmatic, charismatic and dramatic Dr. Dude. 

Along with Durfee and Dacanay, Cornish Fourth-year Musical Theatre major Darby O’Niell performed at the premier watch party on Jan. 4 as his drag persona Katie HD.

With a sliding-scale entry fee, money earned always goes towards paying drag performers, and certain shows support local charities. The premier watch party raised money for Queer Sick Pay Fund, a charity that provides grants for gender affirming care to 24 trans people in Seattle each year, as well as sick pay for queer performers. This Sunday’s watch party will raise money for Fundación Corazón, a food bank in the Central District that supports immigrant families. Seattle U alumnus and President of Fundación Corazón, Brittney Ramirez Osorio, will be speaking about the organization’s mission at another watch party on Jan. 25.

First-year Political Science and History double major Sophia Gonzalez didn’t hesitate to start attending Sunday’s Drag Race Watch Parties. With a particular admiration for this season’s Seattle queen, Jane Don’t, Gonzalez was eager to discuss her predictions for the upcoming season with attendees. 

“It’s so important to go to events like this, where queer art is accessible and affordable and to support local drag and amateur drag,” Gonzalez said. “Drag is supposed to be fun and inventive, it’s supposed to be a space for a community.”

Drag Race Watch Parties will be held every Sunday until this season of Drag Race ends, at Tailwind Cafe at Good Weather in Chophouse Row, just a couple of blocks from Seattle U. Doors are at 6:30 p.m. with the show starting at 7 p.m., and each will feature a weekly guest performer. Ages 15+ are welcome to attend. 

“If you are someone who wants to get into drag, this is a great opportunity for you to come and see what our performance styles are like—and if you want—perform yourself,” Durfee said. “We love performers regardless of their experience level, and we want you!”