NMSU’s LGBT+ Programs is presenting the biannual OUTober Drag Show on Tuesday, Oct. 25, at the Corbett Outdoor Stage from 7-9:30 p.m.
ViLette Stratton, a drag queen who has performed on campus in the past, is hosting the show for the first time. Harlee qylc will be featured as a special guest. Other popular performers will also be there including Trey C. Michaels and Kalorie Karbdashian.
This event was established seven years ago by Zooey Sophia Pook, the director of LGBT+ Programs at NMSU, and has become a biannual tradition every April and October. According to Pook, 10 students have signed up to perform on Tuesday, which will be the most student performers the OUTober Drag Show has ever seen.
Computer science major Camika Leiva will be performing for the first time under the stage name “Leon Neon.”
“I’m excited and nervous to perform,” Leiva said. “I can’t wait to show off my outfit and dance!”
The drag shows on campus generally draw in big crowds from the campus community and from the rest of Las Cruces.
Emmy West, an NMSU graduate student and past attendee of drag shows on campus, expressed their thoughts about the upcoming show.
“The fact that this stage has been a launching pad for young queer people to begin performing means the world to me.”
“I always enjoy NMSU’s drag shows, but right now I’m just super excited to see local talent perform,” West said.
Pook says she is also excited about the high number of student performers.
“The fact that this stage has been a launching pad for young queer people to begin performing means the world to me,” Pook said.
Pook also expressed how much the drag shows on campus mean to her.
“This was the first pure event that I came up with for the program which was about seven years ago,” she said. “It is now one of NMSU’s most exciting and anticipated events, so to create an event that popular and important to so many people means so much to me.”
OUTober Drag Show is free to attend and is also made possible by support from NMSU’s Chicano Programs.
