Gallery • 5 Photos

Junior Maggie Flowers and sophomore Evan Sand performed as "Marxy and Her Comrade." They placed second. Photo by Austin Hronich/The Simpsonian

Simpson College Pride hosted its annual drag show Tuesday night in the Principal Black Box Theater, in which students and professional drag queens strutted their stuff.

At least 120 people crowded into the theater to enjoy various drag performances and snarky banter between the three professional drag performers who came down from Des Moines for the show.

The student performers were sophomore Eden Moad, whose drag persona was Oliver Wood; first-year Jade Wilber, whose persona was “MaXXXimillion Marshall”; junior Maggie Flowers and sophomore Evan Sand, whose dual persona was “Marxy and her Comrade”; sophomore Megan Shores, whose persona was “Anthony Leigh”; and seniors Liz Nimmo and Rachel Riley, whose dual persona was “the Frat Guys You Know.”

Three Simpson faculty members served on the judges’ panel: Mimi Kammer, associate professor of theatre; John Epperson, professor of political science; and John Pauley, professor of philosophy.

Senior Tim Palese, in his drag persona of Catarina Pompadour, emceed the event. He said the drag show is a way for students, both newcomers to drag and those who have done it before, to express themselves in a manner they don’t regularly have.

Palese also encouraged the audience members to support local drag performers when they come across drag clubs. “It’s so worthwhile,” he said.

The event also served as a fundraiser for One Iowa, a Des Moines-based nonprofit which seeks to preserve and advance equality for LGBTQ individuals, according to the organization’s website.

According to Kaylyn Fisher, president of Simpson Pride, this year’s show raised over $110 for One Iowa. She said the show overall went great and could not have been possible without the hard work of everyone involved.

“It was a fantabulous night for a good cause,” Fisher added.