{"id":123,"date":"2021-03-13T22:12:45","date_gmt":"2021-03-13T22:12:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asseeninpv.com\/?p=123"},"modified":"2021-03-13T22:12:48","modified_gmt":"2021-03-13T22:12:48","slug":"what-a-drag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asseeninpv.com\/?p=123","title":{"rendered":"What a Drag!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When I was in high school (and before I realized that I am missing the gene that makes people love musicals) I assistant directed our production of \u201cWest Side Story.\u201d A big worry about doing the show was how many boys we would need to fully cast it. This is the lament of many a high school theater program, btw\u2026 there\u2019s always way more girls than boys who want to perform., which makes casting some shows difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
So. Much. Makeup. Makes ’em feel pretty!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There was one guy in our program a year ahead of me, who was one of these kids who does EVERYTHING. Theater, choir, sports, student council, you name it. He happened to be on the wrestling team, and he convinced all the wrestlers to audition for the play. It was all a big joke to them; every single one sang \u201cEdelweiss\u201d in their audition just to mess with the director, who I\u2019m sure never wanted to hear the song again after that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because we needed so many boys, many of them were called back and eventually cast! It was one of the weirder theater moments of my life, suddenly having to explain to a bunch of thick-necked jock dudes which way was stage left and what a proscenium is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
blossom of snow, may you bloom and grow… bloom and grow, forrrreverrrrrr <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I made friends with a few of them, and eventually asked what on earth possessed them all to sign up for this kind of thing. They said they all tried out as a joke at first, knowing they wouldn\u2019t get cast, so they didn\u2019t have to care about it, and just kind of dared each other to go through with it. But once the callbacks started happening and they got a glimpse into the process of this completely unknown world, they all realized that they really wanted to be in the show after all. They went from smirking and giggling their way through reading the scenes to actually trying to do well in the audition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I always think about this experience around this time of year, when the What<\/a> a Drag<\/a> event takes place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What a Drag is a yearly fundraiser benefitting Casa Esperanza<\/a>, the Banderas Bay Women\u2019s shelter. A gaggle of straight local guys are recruited by the event organizers, each one is assigned a \u201cFairy Drag Mother,\u201d and they all work together to put on what can only be described as a drag pageant for newbies. Each guy, as his new drag persona, performs a solo number (usually a lip sync but not always), as well as participates in some group performances, and the audience votes for their favorite queen as the winner. The contestants \u2013 mostly men of retirement age \u2013 are generally a little hesitant to sign up for the experience, but by the time the event rolls around they are all super into it, practicing in their heels until they are ready to compete and really want to win!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The OG group of queens, from the first WAD in 2015<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This thing is HUGE. It\u2019s held at Teatro Vallarta, and can just about fill the house. Everyone attends, everyone dresses up and has overpriced drinks and a great time, and the shelter for domestic violence victims gets all the pesos \u2013 typically around one million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year is a bit different, of course. They have to severely limit attendance due to COVID, which cuts down significantly on the funds for the shelter. Luckily, this year\u2019s show will be broadcast live via Facebook; anyone, anywhere will be able to watch and vote for the winner. Even better, there are a few spots in town hosting streaming parties<\/a>, so we can \u201cattend\u201d the event more safely. Check out the official What a Drag FB<\/a> page for official locations and ticket prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What a Drag 2021 will be streaming live at 8pm PV time (still CST here). Donations for the shelter can be accepted online, or at any of the official streaming locations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was in high school (and before I realized that I am missing the gene that makes people love musicals) I assistant directed our production of \u201cWest Side Story.\u201d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/asseeninpv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/asseeninpv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/asseeninpv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asseeninpv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asseeninpv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=123"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/asseeninpv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128,"href":"https:\/\/asseeninpv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123\/revisions\/128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/asseeninpv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asseeninpv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asseeninpv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}