BGLSA hosts annual 'Birdcage' drag show
Thunderous beats filled the air as hundreds of bodies filled the seats in anticipation of the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian and Straight Alliance’s 15th annual “Birdcage” show Tuesday night, when drag queens and kings strutted their stuff to bring awareness to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
Sponsored by Carolina Productions, the event featured eight drag queens and one drag king, who gave the Russell House Ballroom audience a real show. More than 400 people attended.
Host Samantha Hunter, a 58-year-old drag queen from Greenville, started off the night. Though she entered the room from the side door, Hunter made her presence known by marching up to the stage to the tune of Mary J. Blige’s “Work That” then sat on the lap of an unsuspecting audience member in the front row.
Hunter invited audience members to approach her with tips as she lay down on the stage, yelling, “Rain on me!”
Former Student Government vice presidential candidate Courtland Thomas wasn’t shy around the performers; He climbed up to dance with Hunter and generously tipped the performers throughout the show.
According to his Twitter account, Thomas had spent $20 by the halfway point of the show, but he was “prepared.”
Once the music cut off and the dancing stopped, it was time for an interview.
“If you don’t love yourself, how the hell are you going to love somebody else?” Hunter asked the crowd, quoting famous drag queen RuPaul, because Hunter said she believes in order to do what she does, one must love and respect oneself to the fullest.
Next to the interview seat was 42-year-old Columbia native Dorae Saunders, who got her television debut on the popular reality show “America’s Got Talent.” She pointed to her television time to rebut those who told her that she couldn’t use lip-syncing as a talent. When someone tells her she can’t do something, she said, she turns around and does it.
“Drag is larger than life, over the top and over the edge,” Saunders said.
And although she has been doing drag since she was 17 years old, Saunders said she does not intend to stop anytime soon.
“When I’m old, you’ll still see me on the stage,” Saunders said. “Somebody will be wheeling me out in a wheelchair, baby!”
Patty O’Furniture entered the stage to Christina Aguilera’s version of “Carwash,” sporting a luau-inspired grass- and hibiscus-covered dress. She worked the stage, then exited onto the floor, taking tips all the way. Though she lost a shoe on the way back up the stairs, O’Furniture was not to be stopped. She whipped off the other shoe and retreated back up the runway barefoot.
USC’s own ‘Miss Gaymecock,’ Nyla Dior, dazzled the crowd with a medley of Beyonce songs, which she performed with the help of six other backup dancers.
After her performance, when asked about her hopes for the future of drag, Dior said, “I would like to be America’s next drag superstar.”
The final performer was the sole drag king of the night, 24-year-old Oliver Clothessoff, whose approach to his routine greatly differed from those of his fellow entertainers.
Stepping out in a cloak, round-framed glasses and wielding a wand, Clothessoff became Harry Potter. Finishing his performance with B.o.B’s “Magic,” Clothessoff left the crowd screaming for more.
After his third year of performing in “Birdcage,” Clothessoff said he was proud of how far the school has come in its acceptance of the LGBT community.
“When I was in school in 2009, it wasn’t like this,” he said. “Gay is becoming more and more socially acceptable. We don’t see it as taboo anymore.”
After the show, BGLSA President Mason Branham said the event went “pretty darn well.” The third-year psychology and theater student had been planning this event since October with the Carolina Productions team, as well as fellow BGLSA members.
Though the show went well overall, Branham admitted there were a few snags throughout the course of the show.
“Girl, you’re dealing with drag queens; absolutely there were problems,” he said.