As their big day approaches, Scottie Vandy (CAS ’27) and his fellow contestants are rushing to put the final touches on the performance of their lifetime.
Vandy showed me a potential sample of his costume for Tiara Wink—a persona born out of his desire to bring to life someone equal parts substantive, recognizable, and “gay enough.” The initial drafts of his costume sported a pair of hot pink latex “shorts” tightly holding the crotch like a swing. He ended up opting for a slightly less exposing bodysuit instead—still latex, of course.
Tiara Wink, along with four other contestants, will perform at the Mx. Georgetown drag competition—a more campy and suggestive spoof on Mr. Georgetown. The contestants, each donning personalized drag personas, will compete in segments including a Miss America-style Q-and-A, talent showcase, lip sync battles, and a final showdown between the top two contestants. Last year, it was “fruit fellatio.”
This will be the second annual production of Mx. Georgetown since Jackie Early (CAS ’26) created the event last year. While Mx. Georgetown is not the first drag event in Georgetown’s history, Early wanted to create a “lineage of people who could claim to be Mx. Georgetown,” fostering a legacy of queer celebration for students.
The event is already building a fabulous community with this new cycle of contestants, each coming from a diverse array of backgrounds, both personally and in terms of drag experience.
Vandy was first exposed to drag through watching RuPaul’s Drag Race (2009–present). After watching seasons seven through 16 over one summer, he felt inspired to try drag at home.
Sasha Jayne (CAS ’27) was brought to Mx. Georgetown through the Rocky Horror pipeline.
“I’m a big fan of that kind of performance aspect, especially with all the flair and pizzazz,” they said.
Leena Kethu (GSAS ’26), who joined Mx. to have some reprieve from grad-school hell, has been practicing drag for some time.
“My drag name is Yersinia B Pestis; it’s the scientific name for the Bucha plague,” they said, wanting to reference their health care background. “And the B stands for, like, buboes, but spelled like, boobs.” Well, duh.
While some contestants already have matured alter egos, others are diving into Mx. Georgetown cold, looking for an opportunity to push the bounds of their identity.
“I tend to be a lot more introverted and more socially anxious,” Matt Shinnick (CAS ’25) admitted. “I found that it’s a lot easier for me to be more outgoing, to be more energetic, committing to it fully, especially when there’s some kind of persona attached.”
According to Shinnick, doing a death drop with glued-down eyebrows and a vivacious wig might just be the key to solving social anxiety.
Drag personas allow contestants limitless space for creativity to push pre-existing bounds of gender. Typically, this experimentation is expressed through portraying either extremes of the gender binary—drag queens do elaborate make-up and corset their waists while drag kings sport drawn-on beards and staches.
But Mx. contestants are going even further to question the very validity of gender binaries, using their personas as an opportunity to mix-and-match identities without the pressure of committing to a label.
“A lot of drag is an exaggeration,” Jayne said. “You’re free to do as much or as little as you want—doesn’t have to tie your particular gender identity. It allows for a lot of experimentation.”
Shinnick found drag to be formative in their experience coming out as non-binary at Georgetown, which initially left them unsure of how to present outwardly.
“I think drag gives you a space to explore along those lines [of gender] and figure out both where you are, what you’re comfortable with, and what you like,” Shinnick said.
Their drag persona, Dionysia (after the ancient festival of “orgiastic revelry” honoring the Greek god Dionysus), is more focused on extravagant deification than delivering a binary performance of gender, all while incorporating classic elements of a drag persona.
“A god who has the arrogance and the persona of the Greek gods, [which is a] very human side of things, while also being incredibly powerful, incredibly attractive; sure, I think that fits very well with being a drag queen,” Shinnick said.
Similarly, Yersinia B Pestis, according to Kethu, plays with gender in a hybridized, Frankenstein-esque way: no breasts, snatched waist, and twisted stache accompany a burlesque performance. Yersinia is a dramatized version of Kethu’s many facets—their medical interests, theater background, and punk aesthetic—all fused through hyperbolized, but fluid, gender performance.
Mx. provides Georgetown students with a space to experience and witness liberated gender and self expression, a unique privilege that Early wants to pay forward. This year, Mx. Georgetown’s proceeds will go to Point of Pride, an organization that provides financial aid to trans individuals.
“I think our community, at times, just kind of gets stuck in this Georgetown bubble of things,” Early admitted. “So I think it’s important that we kind of like reach out and help folks who maybe aren’t in those situations to fully embrace themselves.”
Mx. Georgetown will take place on April 11 at 8 p.m. in the Lohrfink Auditorium. Tickets can be purchased on CampusGroups.
