After their success with their annual fall concert, A&O Productions strikes back with a fall speaker event that sold out within 30 minutes of ticket release.
A&O Productions is a student-run organization that brings concerts, films, speakers, etc. to Northwestern students to enjoy. They bring a speaker to campus every quarter, and for this quarter they decided to try something never done before: a joint event between two speakers, and rather than the usual speech-and-questions format, they came up with a drag show with a student showcase and Q&A after.
The speakers featured were Shea Couleé and Alyssa Edwards, drag queens from the popular drag reality show RuPaul’s Drag Race. Shea and Alyssa both performed intense sets filled with dancing, lip syncing, and interacting with the audience that had people jumping out of their seats, as well as calling on lucky individuals who learned to walk like a drag queen and have a dance-off against each other!
The show also featured three Northwestern student drag queens (stage names Filet Mignon, Karma ‘Zabitch, Even Steven), whose performances were judged by Shea and Alyssa, who had nothing but praises for the three performers.
Lastly, the event closed off with a Q&A session, where the audience could ask the two drag queens questions. Shea, who is from Chicago, connected to the audience by talking about their experiences in college (they attended Columbia College in Chicago) and how drag affected their life in positive ways, while Alyssa spoke about her introduction to drag and shared insight for those who want to start drag but do not know how to start.
This speaker event was a massive success — tickets sold out within 30 minutes of release, and the whole venue was packed. From the Willow and Raveena concert to this drag show, A&O Productions have been executing great accomplishments all quarter. This is just the start for the club; look forward to more upcoming events!