Dressed In Drag: A Recap of 2009's Drag Show

Photo by Laura Foltz.

Reann Ballslee performs as Britney Spears for her final performance at the Drag Show.

By Broadside Staff Writer Maria Cianfichi

“I love entertaining people! Love, love, love it!,” said 2009 Ms. Mason winner Reann Ballslee (a.k.a. Ryan Allen).

Ryan Allen, who has been entertaining people with his drag show character Reann Ballslee since August of 2005, hosted Mason’s Drag Show on April 3, 2009. The Johnson Center was packed from the ground level, up the staircase and onto the third floor.

“The drag show as we've come to know it has been going on for about seven years now. However, about 15 years ago a group of students started Pride Alliance and had drag shows throughout that time,” said Allen.

Pride Week is full of educational and informative events. The Drag Show, which is the main event of Mason's Pride alliance organization, has been in the works since mid-February.

“The Drag Show and Pride Week is the best thing that GMU has to offer in terms of diversity,” said sophomore psychology major Brittney Byron. “It’s a way for people to express themselves and give them a chance to be the way they want to be.”

This year there were a total of 14 drag queens and kings, eight of which were student performers.

“That number that blows my mind considering my first year there were only two student performers,” said Allen.

Included in the roster of student performers were Macy Pennys, Kim Chi, Brenda Tittlesworth, Brianna Spice, Mike Hunt, Roberta Deluxe, Carly Davidson, Chuck Finesse and Jorge Escobar.

Brianna Spice was the first Mason student to perform and sent the crowd into cheers as she kicked, shimmied and pole-danced her way through Ricky Martins, “Livin La Vida Loca.”

Another crowd favorite was Roberta Deluxe’s imitation of Lady Gaga while performing to the popular song “Just Dance."

Brenda Tittlesworth performed a remake of “Colors of the Wind" from Pocahontas. Tittlesworth re-vamped the song, stripping of her Pocahontas attire into a tiny bikini designed with a big pink flower.

In addition to hosting the show, Reann Ballslee performed two solo numbers. In the first number, Ballslee mimicked the dance and attire of the Academy Award-winning Slumdog Millionaire dancing to the winner of Best Song, “Jai Ho.”

Later, Ballslee gave a teary-eyed thanks to the audience for electing her as Ms. Mason 2009 and sang Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.”

In addition to the eight students performers, were six professional drag queens and kings, which included Esmerellda Kane James, Destiny B. Childs, Regina Jozet Adams, Ophelia Bottoms, E-Cleff, and Oliver Clothesoff.

Included in the guest performers was Mason ’07 Alum Claire Gault, who has been working as a professional drag king for the past five years.

Clothesoff currently performs in Washington D.C. with the D.C. Kings but comes back to perform for Mason.

“It’s good to be able to bring the show to the people under 21. Also, it’s great to get the students so excited,” added Clothesoff.

Drag king E-Cleff performed two numbers. In the first number, he performed to Chris Brown and Jordin Sparks's “No Air." In the second, E-Cleff danced and sang to Justin Timberlake’s “Sexy Ladies,” sending members of the audience to their feet.

Another crowd-pleaser was Destiny B. Child’s imitation of Beyonces’ “Single Ladies.”
The entire drag show excited students prompting standing ovations, dancing, singing, and waving dollar bills at the performers, yet nothing topped the enthusiasm of both the performers and the audience as in the final routine.

Reanne Ballslee took the stage one more time, accompanied by Kim Chi, Macy Penny’s, and Brenda Tittlesworth to perform a Britney Spears medley.

Stephanie Hassel, junior psychology major, said, “I loved the Britney Spears routine and I love Reann!"

“The annual drag show is meant to celebrate diversity and be utterly fabulous! The Drag Show is a chance for the LGBTQ community to let our hair down and just have a good time,” said Allen.