On Friday, Oct. 28, RockOUT and Rock the Weekend kicked off Halloween weekend with a drag show in the Smith Student Center ballroom. The event included a costume contest, tricks, treats, a raffle and performances from local drag queens. Queens featured were Akasha L. Van-Cartier, Miss V. Van-Cartier, Phoenix Fatale and Alora Chateaux.
Each queen gave two choreographed lip-sync performances, one before the costume contest and one after.
The applause-based contest took place on stage, where students walked up one by one and introduced themselves while Akasha Van-Cartier provided sassy commentary. Contestants were dressed as a Playboy bunny, a plague doctor, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and a skeleton, among others.
When the winner, dressed as Kim Possible, walked on stage, Van-Cartier said, “I’m not even going to say something stupid because you look like you could kick my ass.”
The lip-sync performances were characterized by mashups that typically combined movie quotes with pop songs. Chateaux, who had a peg leg temporarily taking the place of her broken leg, opened her number with a sea shanty.
“I thought it would be funny to do a pirate song,” Chateaux said. “Plus, it goes with my leg.”
One performer, Phoenix Fatale, is an SRU alum. Out of drag, Fatale works as a coach for SRU’s cheer team. Her act included songs with “a devilish theme” to set a festive tone.
“I’ve been doing shows here for years … it’s always a good time,” she said.
As students entered the ballroom and awaited the queens, they were greeted with a trick-or-treat bag section. There, they could grab candy and small prizes. Trinkets such as rubber skeletons and plastic spiders were placed throughout the ballroom for students to take and enjoy.
“Would I ever come back to Slippery Rock?” said Chateaux. “Sure, as long as it pays the bills.”
