Help us upskill the next generation of Wellington drag with 'Drag Class'!

Help Us Upskill The Next Generation Of Wellington Drag With 'Drag Class'!

Project 2020-07-22 17:18:08 +1200

School is in session!

Sharpen your pencils, brandish your book bags, and get ready for a rigorous academic roster - it’s the first ever Drag Class! An intensive ten week drag show & competition, aiming to ready new performers for the modern industry. 

Despite a booming local market, and an ever-growing community of talented performers, what Wellington’s drag scene lacks is opportunities to learn. New performers often struggle to find support and access to resources and technical know-how to level-up their art form. In a world where you can study pottery, homeopathy and all other kinds of performing art at a tertiary level, why isn’t there a school for drag? This is our solution! 

Each week the ‘classmates’ will be battling it out with a series of assignments centred around a different logistical aspect of the drag art form - from costume, to lipsync, wigs, makeup, comedy and drag history. By our Drag Class Grand Finale in week ten, the graduates will have clocked the stage time, finessed the skills, and created the costumes and acts to be ready to be booked in any context. So, who will be the teacher’s pet? Who will be our class clown? And who will be our Grand Drag Class Dux? Head on down to Ivy Bar on Tuesdays at 7.30pm to find out! 

Our shows run every Tuesday from August 11th - October 6th with our Grand Finale on October 9th.

But first! We need your support! This is a not-for-profit community project, we’re entirely covering expenses, including the creation of resources and support for our dragsters, with ticket sales and our Pledge Me campaign. Keen to help? Here’s how! 

• Get your ‘season pass’ tickets to the show through Pledge Me! We’re selling our season pass VIP tickets (front row seats to all ten shows including the finale) for just $200  - twenny bucks a pop, bloody bargain. If you’re just after a General Admission pass to all shows, those work out to just ten bucks a show - cheap as chips. Buying in advance on eventfinder, gives our organisational team the security to get this wonderful thing done, without Hugo biting off all his nails wondering whether he can pay rent. 

• Support our Pledge Me in general! Even if you’re not able to come, your pocket change goes a long way to making Drag Class sustainable. Donate whatever you can with the $5 and up ‘choose your own amount’ tiers on Pledge Me - this is a great way to support if you’re not able to make any of the shows.

• Donate a prize! We are creating ten dope prize packages for the Top Student each week, and we’d love to fill them with useful stuff for new dragsters. Know someone who might be able to help? Got stuff you could donate? Email us at [email protected] with ‘Drag Class Prize’ in the subject line. 

• Corporate sponsorship! Got a mean hook up with a company looking to support meaningful local endeavours? We’d be very keen to get in touch with you. We’ll put your name on everything! Hugo will get it tattooed! He’ll host every show wearing a sandwich board singing your praises! Get in touch. 

• Share this PledgeMe and the Facebook event! If you’ve got no dosh, we understand. (Hey - us neither!) We’d love a signal boost. Please holler of this event in every corner of the internet, we’d be greatly appreciative. 

Thank you, a thousand times thank you, you beautiful humans. Let’s make this wonderful gig happen. 

Eat your vegetables, fuck the patriarchy, tell your friends you love them. Let’s do this!

• Hugo xoxoxo

Some more information about Drag Class!

Check our our Facebook Event here.

Tickets to the shows are here.

Our Class of 2020 is:

TessTickles

Jack Cristoph

Louisiana Perkins

Marsha Mellow

Brenda? Areyouintheaudience

Daya T

Ju Majin

Vixie & James Bondage

Jezebel

And hosted by local gender-mess Hugo Grrrl.

What assignments will dragsters be doing each week? Here’s the full lesson plan!

Tuesday August 11th, 7.30pm - COSTUME with guest judge HARIEL, Create an act in which the costume is the pivotal storytelling piece. Consider the colour, movement and shape of your look, and how costume can be used as a prop and to create a character in drag. Reveals are not necessary but encouraged. 

Tuesday August 18th, 7.30pm - WIGS with guest judge HARLIE LUX, Create an act in which the wig/hairpiece is the pivotal storytelling piece. Consider the movement, style and how hair can be used both for characterisation and as a prop in drag. Consider how wigs can transform your proportions and complete a look.

Tuesday August 25th, 7.30pm - MAKEUP with guest judge ROBIN YABLIND, Create an act in which the makeup is the pivotal storytelling piece. Consider how makeup can change the shape of the face and be used to create a drag or cosplay character. Consider how makeup looks under stage lights and how it translates to a live audience.

Tuesday September 1st, 7.30pm - BROADWAY with guest judge PAMELA HANCOCK and guest MC Judy Virago, Create an act that honours the showbiz/broadway genre, legacy and style. Consider how the tricks of the trade of broadway (costume, dance and dramatic style of performance) can be used to entertain nightlife audiences. Live singing is not necessary but encouraged. 

Tuesday September 8th, 7.30pm - DANCE with guest judge KELLY FORNIA, Create an act in which the dance and movement is the pivotal storytelling piece. Consider how movement can express emotions, personality and stories, build energy/climax in an act, and can captivate an audience. Feel free to utilise styles of dance that are not typical to club-style drag acts.

Tuesday September 15th, 7.30pm - LIPSYNC with guest judge WILLY SMACKNTUSH, Create an act in which the lipsyncing is the pivotal storytelling piece. You’re encouraged not to use movement, costume or props. Let your face and mouth do the work for you. Remember to use your eyes and hands! Emote!

Tuesday September 22nd, 7.30pm - DRAG HISTORY with guest judge JUDY VIRAGO, Create an act that honours an aspect of drag history, whether that be a person, an event, an era or piece of media. You’re encouraged not to pick something from current times, but rather something historic and/or iconic. Feel free to pick something significant to you. 

Tuesday September 29th, 7.30pm - COMEDY with guest judge NEIL THORNTON and guest MC Judy Virago Create an act that is comedic. Consider the best way to execute a punchline in an act - with voice-overs, audio-editing, props or reveals.Consider the best way to create a humorous drag character - with movement, costume, hair and makeup.  

Tuesday October 6th, 7.30pm - TALENT with guest judge RACHEL ROUGE, and guest MC Judy ViragoCreate an act that strongly features a talent of yours. Consider how to integrate your talent into the drag number, both thematically and practically. Consider how your talent can be used to create an act that’s impressive, entertaining and highlights you as a strong and multi-talented performer.

Friday October 9th, 9pm - FINALE! With guest judges STEVEN MAWHINNEY, HUGO GRRRL & WILLY SMACKNTUSH, and guest MC Judy Virago. Create an act that conveys who you are as a drag performer - your talents, your preferred style and ideas that are important to you. Aim to create an act that is captivating, impressive, unique, and entertaining and showcases the best of what you can do on stage. As this is the finale, a more formal/glitzy style of drag is preferred but not necessary. Be prepared to answer questions regarding your experience and growth throughout Drag Class afterwards.

Concept credit for Drag Class goes completely to the amazing Sabel Sities of Austin TX, our thanks goes out to her for her generosity in allowing us to replicate the program here.

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