Drag queen Kat Danger performs for students on CU’s Glen Miller Ballroom stage on Sunday, Oct. 23, 2022. (Io Hartman/CU Independent)
Drag clown Mo Whoremoans embraces the silly and fun side of horror. With their black and white, striped and polka dot jumpsuit, mermaid blue hair and mime makeup, they look like a far less scary version of Art the Clown, the demonic character from the horror film “Terrifier.” Onstage, Mo Whoremoans puts on a frenzied, circus-like routine with miming, dancing and even a rubber chicken.
On Oct. 24, the University of Colorado Boulder Gender and Sexuality Alliance held its annual drag show at the University Memorial Center in partnership with the Pride Office. Hosted by Denver drag stars and fiancés Wild Cherry Quartz and Calder Goodlay, the Halloween-themed show “Grave Affair” featured five CU student performers and Denver drag queen Kat Danger.
Drag clown Mo Whoremoans performs their set for an engaged audience during the Halloween-themed drag show at CU’s University Memorial Center on Sunday, Oct. 23, 2022. (Io Hartman/CU Independent)
Kat Danger, Calder Goodlay, Wild Cherry Quartz, Little Meow Meow, Madonna Horowitz, Park, King Vaughnz Spanic (top row, from left to right), Jenna Rothe, Nate Peterson, Melia Scholl (bottom row, left to right) pose for a group photo after performing for the “Grave Affair” drag show at CU Boulder’s UMC. Sunday, Oct. 26, 2022. (Courtesy of Quinn Rubin)
“It’s a really good starting place for a lot of drag performers,” said senior Morgan Collins, known onstage as Mo Whoremoans. “My first show was the CU drag show in 2018, and now I get paid for [performing drag] in Denver.”
This is GSA’s second Halloween-themed drag show of 2022, following “Paranormal Activity” hosted last semester on Easter Sunday, April 17. Over half of those performers and the hosts returned for “Grave Affair” for another eclectic, spooky show.
“Are you ready for the type of spooky and scary that makes you wonder what you’ve done with your life to end up here with us?” Wild Cherry Quartz asked, flipping her long, ruby-red dreadlocks. “Are you ready to question your life choices?”
Drag host and performer Wild Cherry Quartz walked through the aisle in the audience during their performance on Oct. 23, 2022. (Io Hartman/CU Independent)
Drag host and performer Wild Cherry Quartz energetically entertained the crowd in the Glen Miller Ballroom on Oct. 23, 2022. (Io Hartman/CU Independent)
Then, the freakiness began. Calder Goodlay waltzed onstage dressed as the Red Puppet from the comedy-horror internet series “Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared,” wearing a neon red outfit with a massive costume headpiece. As hard rock music blared, he danced and stripped off this outfit, revealing grotesque skeleton makeup and a black crop top.
Little Meow Meow, dressed as ‘sexy Garfield,’ performed onstage at the University Memorial Center on Oct. 23, 2022. (Io Hartman/CU Independent)
The other performers presented costumes and performances across the spectrum of spooky. Madonna Horowitz dressed as a leather-clad grim reaper with a mini scythe, her bloody chest and face covered with spiders. Little Meow Meow, a self-described “sexy Garfield” with orange kitty ears, a tail and a leather collar, writhed onstage to a very explicit song. Park danced in a classy all-black outfit along with the groove of Hozier’s “Take Me To Church.” King Vaughnz Spanic played the role of the boyband heartthrob. Swaggering around in a sleeveless red sports jersey and baggy jeans, he lip-synched his heart out to an angsty rock song and dropped to his knees for an epic solo on a tiny, red blow-up guitar.
Drag performer King Vaughnz Spanic played a blow up electric guitar during his performance from High School Musical as Troy Bolton. Taken in the Glen Miller Ballroom in Boulder on Sunday, Oct. 25, 2022. (Io Hartman/CU Independent)
“I typically go for super emotional and vulnerable,” King Vaughnz Spanic said. “As a trans person, I’ve gone through [a lot], so I try to deal with that. Or I go sexual and sensual. There’s not really an in-between. Drag queen Jessica L’Whor described me as a ‘wholesome, respectable fuckboy.’”
To finish the show, Kat Danger, a professional Denver-based drag queen, performed her signature flashy routine. With her scintillating outfit, knee-high leather boots and voluminous blond wig, Kat Danger danced sensuously and performed impressive acrobatics, including full splits, handstands, cartwheels and backbends.
Professional drag queen Kat Danger performs for students on CU’s Glen Miller Ballroom stage on Sunday, Oct. 23, 2022. (Io Hartman/CU Independent)
“Drag is really important safe space for queer people,” said GSA Event Coordinator Jenna Rothe, a senior at CU Boulder. “It’s a way to express themselves, to put on a personality and show what they can do.”
Contact CU Independent Managing Editor Izzy Fincher at Isabella.fincher@colorado.edu.
Contact CU Independent Head Visuals Editor Io Hartman at Io.Hartman@colorado.edu.
