JackCentral

Each semester PRISM (People Respecting Individuals and Sexual Minorities) sponsors a drag show, and each year it proves to be an evening of gender-bending fun that will engage no matter what the viewer’s sexual orientation or gender identification may be.
Steve Spivey, five-year PRISM member and current treasurer, said the Drag Show has been running for two to three years. Each year the show becomes more popular not only on campus, but in the Flagstaff community as well.
Ash Arp, a performer in this semester’s drag show and PRISM executive board member, said the drag show is not just about laughing with, or at, your friends.
“It is an amazing event for everyone to enjoy. No matter how you identify or don’t identify, there is something for everyone,” Arp said. “There are men dressed up as women, there are women dressed as men, there are (also) other combinations; it’s something everyone can enjoy.”
Some may confuse drag shows with people who are transgendered, but Spivey says there is an important difference.
“I’ve heard people confuse drag with transgendered and I think it’s important that people understand these days that drag is very different from transgendered,” Spivey said. “Drag is performance, meant to be for entertainment. People who are ‘trans’ don’t walk around in drag when starting their transition process; they simply adopt characteristics of their new gender that are comfortable to them.”
Dana Morgan,  also a performer and member of PRISM, is organizing the event with fellow members. This is the largest fundraiser of the semester for PRISM, and this time around a professional drag troupe is coming up from Phoenix.
Although many may not associate a drag show with activism or change, the performers beg to differ.
“A drag show is meant to push the envelope,” Spivey said. “It’s meant to be avant garde, racy and deliberately inappropriate at times, but also gutsy, glamorous and heart-warming.”
This semester the drag show proceeds will go not only back to the club but will also support other causes, with 15 percent going to the American Cancer Association.
For many, the show will offer much more than just a night of fun.
“The reason I have gone drag is not ‘cause I’m good at it; it’s because it is a time when people are vulnerable and get outside of the lines of society’s perspectives,” Spivey said.
Arp said the show contributes to society.
“It has changed hearts, it has opened minds, it has brought attention to the life we all live,” Arp said.
This semester’s show is Wednesday, April 16 at the Orpheum theater from 8:00-10:00. Admission is $5 for students and $7 for community members.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 10th, 2008 at 8:11 pm and is filed under A&E. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.