Venus Entertainment and Be Here Now are collaborating with several other drag performers to host a Valentine’s Day Drag Show Saturday.
Among the performers are Jake Goodpaster and Layton Drew, or Venus and Cupid Sparks onstage.
This will be Goodpaster’s fifth year of performing drag and his fourth year as a show director. He said he uses his on-stage persona Venus to help him become more confident and share his story with other people.
Goodpaster also said he enjoys involving other drag performers and encouraged Drew to begin performing as a Drag King a year ago.
While he was assigned female at birth, Drew knew he was male, but was scared of being in front of an audience and uncomfortable opening up about wanting to transition.
Where: Be Here Now on 505 N. Dill St.
When: Doors open at 8 p.m. Saturday, meet and greet begins at 8:30 p.m. and the show starts at 9 p.m.
Cost: $10 for those ages 20 and younger and $5 for ages 21 and older
However, after Drew first performed as a Drag King, he took a picture of himself, reflected on it and decided he wanted to look like that everyday.
“When I started doing drag, I started becoming myself more,” Drew said. “My real smile is always there, it’s never a little fake one, so it was something that drag definitely opened my eyes to.”
Drew also enjoys being able to see the reaction of the crowds while he performs on stage.
“I love seeing people smile,” Drew said. “I love being able to take someone that is on their phone and distract them enough to put it away and not get it back out again.”
The crowd at Saturday’s Drag Show will have a chance to talk to performers as well as take pictures with them during a meet and greet before the show, an opportunity that Goodpaster said he looks forward to.
“On stage you see me as Venus, but after the show I spend one to two hours talking and meeting people and hearing their stories and hearing how my one song really connected to [them],” Goodpaster said. “So that’s my favorite part. It’s not coming home with lots of tips or anything like that, it’s knowing that I made a difference to one person in that room.”
For those apprehensive about attending the show, both Goodpaster and Drew had the same advice — “Just do it.”
“People can turn off their phones, they can forget about work, they can forget about their home life, they can forget about what’s going on, they can forget everything and just come to a place that is filled with love and happiness and acceptance,” Goodpaster said. “Buy a drink, and if you’re not 21, get you a Kool-Aid and just have a great time.”
Contact Alona Krantz with comments at amkrantz@bsu.edu or on Twitter @alonamaelyn.
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