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The final touches to drag queen Addie Raw’s look — lashes, last-minute outfit tweaks and a quick style to their hair — are made possible by the help of other queens. Addie Raw (Syracuse University sophomore Ivy Monroe) has a drag mother back in Arkansas who inspired her look and personality onstage.
“She taught me how to do my makeup, she taught me how to dance, what moves to do, what moves not to do,” Monroe said. “She taught me good things and bad things. She sat me down to watch drag and taught me everything I needed to know.”
Monroe felt that same sense of camaraderie from fellow drag queens on Saturday at SU Pride Union’s 24th annual Student Drag Show finale.
The event, which was split into preliminary and final rounds, featured student performers and guest drag queen stars. The preliminary round was held in Schine Underground on March 20, with special hosts from prominent drag queens and former “RuPaul’s Drag Race” contestants: Mariyea, Aja and Kandy Muse. The finale was held Saturday in Goldstein Auditorium.
Seven of the eight contestants in the preliminary round were performing in their first-ever drag show. Pride Union Vice President Landon Nance said going onstage for the first time is a fundamental moment for a lot of performers.
“As an audience member getting to sit there and watch and share that experience, I think is powerful and a type of excitement in its rawest form,” Nance said.
Performing for an audience was nothing new for Malichi Simmons, since he is a singer and dancer. But doing it in drag is a completely new experience, he said.
Simmons’ friends encouraged him to get involved with drag, and recognizing the importance of new experiences, he decided to do a drag performance that incorporated something he does best: singing. On March 20, Simmons debuted his drag queen persona Ruffles.
In the drag world, it is most common for queens to lip sync a song as they dance and act onstage. But, at the preliminary round, Simmons sang “Before He Cheats” live.
Simmons was one of four contestants who went on to the final round. He said he was shocked to find out he had made the cut and knew he had to go bigger for the finale. Simmons said he wanted to engage with the crowd more and improve his presence.
Another one of the finalists was graduate student Hunter Kusak — who goes by quirt on-stage. Kusak has been in the drag space since 2021, when he began photographing for other queens. He officially performed for the first time at a Pride Union show in 2023. Kusak said he was grateful to Pride Union for giving him a space to explore his own drag.
Graduate student Hunter Kusak, or drag queen quirt, walks down the runway to “Kiss” by Prince. Kusak started his drag journey photographing other drag queens. Maddy Cox | Staff Photographer
Quirt’s signature look features elaborate clown makeup. For his performance at the preliminary show, Kusak decided to perform a remix of Tag Team’s “Whoomp! There It Is” and Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” because he has memories of listening to the songs with his grandmother.
Kusak wanted to showcase his growth throughout his time doing drag through music and remembers being connected to it as a kid.
“I recently came across videos of me before I transitioned when I was probably like 10, dancing to ‘Born This Way’ by Lady Gaga in my grandmother’s kitchen,” Kusak said. “It was right when MacBooks were released, I would record myself in the photobooth. It’s (drag) that taught me to lean into my creativity and be less shy.”
Simmons, a first-time drag queen, said it was initially difficult for him to be comfortable going onstage in makeup, lashes and a more revealing outfit.
“Oh my God, I felt great. When I was onstage, I wasn’t Malichi, I was Ruffles,” Simmons said.
Audience members showed up and out for the performers, said Pride Union Secretary Madalyn Paige. Paige described the audience-to-performer relationship as a “mutually beneficial experience,” allowing them to create an encouraging environment for everyone.
“The energy in the room doesn’t make it feel like much of a competition,” Nance said. “Part of that is the varying relationships people have with drag and that’s kind of what’s powerful about it.”
Paige and Nance worked together for both the preliminary and final shows. Paige acted as a “stage mom,” the last person the performers would see before going onstage. She said she wanted the contestants to feel like they can go out confidently and have fun.
“I know how beneficial it is to just have someone looking dead in your face and saying to you that they believe in you and know that you can do whatever you’re gonna do,” Paige said.
In preparation for the finale, Nance worked with management and talent to get well-known drag queens as hosts. The final round was hosted by Symone, Season 13 winner of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”
After a performance from Symone, each of the four finalists took their turns onstage, battling to see who would win the drag show’s prize: a sash and crown.
Ivy Monroe, or drag queen Addie Raw, accepts their first prize win at Pride Union’s 24th annual Drag Show. Monroe lip-synched to Kesha’s “Cannibal” in their winning performance. Maddy Cox | Staff Photographer
Quirt performed to a mashup of multiple genres of music, including rap, R&B and country. His opening song was “Kiss” by Prince, an homage to his first drag number in 2023, where he used the same song, Kusak said.
Ruffles sang “I Kissed A Girl” by Katy Perry and Addie Raw went with a maneater-themed performance, lip syncing to Kesha’s “Cannibal” and even featuring fake blood toward the end of the dance.
After the contestants completed their numbers, the audience voted on which two contestants would advance to the final round. The last two queens in the competition were Addie Raw and quirt.
In an intense ending, the two simultaneously competed in an improvised lip-sync dance-off before the final voting. After minutes of crowd work and dancing, Addie Raw was crowned the winner.
Monroe was shocked by the SU community and support, they said, especially coming from Arkansas, where support for the LGBTQ+ community has been declining.
“I come here, and everyone is so happy and I get to hang out with people who actually care. I walked around outside, and people were not even batting an eye. I feel a lot more safe here,” Monroe said.
The Pride Union drag shows have not only fostered an environment for students to try something new, but also a safe space for anyone in or in support of the community, Nance said.
“On an even greater scale, you’re seeing so many different windows into the community in a time when the community is being villainized beyond belief,” Nance said. “It’s brutal, but it’s kind of the time to own it and reclaim what they want to take away.”
