The drag show goes from on the stage into the crowd. Photo by Nate Hadley.
Miz Cracker, a former contestant on RuPaul’s Drag Race, performed for over 1100 people at the Ramsey Center on Friday, Sept. 27. The New York City native captivated the audience with her wardrobe and lip-sync performance, but also for shining a light on feminism.
Doors opened at 7 p.m. and as fans anticipated Cracker’s appearance, DJ Deonte Holmes made sure to keep the crowd entertained. Cracker opened the show with a medley lip sync of hit pop songs and over the top dancing, to which the crowd went wild.
Cracker brought out local drag queens, including three WCU students, to perform throughout the show as well. The audience was asked to tip the performers through their set. Each queen had a different, creative and colorful style with individuality in their performances.
During an intermission, Cracker spoke candidly about why it’s so important to her to support feminism.
“I have been raised and brought to fame by American women . . . Marsha P. Johnson and many other women fought hard for queer rights. Every cis, white, gay owes women something,” Cracker said to the audience.
The audience asked questions regarding Cracker’s early beginnings in show business saying she hadn’t considered doing drag until she saw herself in full makeup. She gave advice to those who are considering doing drag saying, “you start by going to a lot of drag shows. . . and then you quietly start doing performances on your own.”
In a one on one interview, Cracker also had strong words to say to the LGBT+ community on campus.
“Stop talking to queer people and liberals about queer and liberal issues. You should talk to conservative people about the issues we care about, because why bother talking to people who already agree with you?” Cracker added that it’s “just a waste of time” to be members of queer clubs on campus if it’s just to agree with each other on important issues. However, she was also “really grateful” about the turnout adding that this was the biggest college event she’d performed at.
Dean Paulk, assistant director of Intercultural Affairs and one of the organizers for the event, was happy about the incredibly positive response to the show calling it “amazing and heartwarming.” Paulk referenced a 2015 incident in which there was negative backlash to Pride Week adding that he’s happy that things have been changing since then.
The night concluded a successful Pride Week at WCU, demonstrating to queer students that the university is in full support of them. Miz Cracker had some advice for everyone saying, “always be trying something new, always be pushing your boundaries, always try to make yourself and the world around you a better place.”
