Midway Cabaret fundraises for HMC in style
The Everything Drag Club organized and hosted a show called the Midway Cabaret on Sunday, April 19 at The Hive Collaborative (often just called, The Hive), just a few blocks from campus. The show ran for two hours with an intermission and was hosted by drag club members, co-president sophomore Liam Schrom (Zestina the Drag Queen) and treasurer sophomore Lena Sampy (Gingey). 100% of proceeds made from ticket sales went directly to the Hamline-Midway Coalition (HMC).
The Drag Club previously had done a Midway Cabaret show at The Hive last August. However, since it was summer break, there was less student engagement overall, so this time, the club decided to hold the show during the academic year.
The club also saw a need to do something for the Hamline-Midway community overall, especially due to the difficulties the state had been going through because of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“I reserved this day a little less than a year ago and then time was passing, and then the ICE stuff was becoming really prevalent in Minnesota, and me and [Drag Club secretary sophomore] Trina [Morlock] had a conversation about what we can do for our community right now with our capabilities as students and like, being so overwhelmed with our own like, what the world is doing to us and our loved ones, as well as how can we respond and help with what we know?” Schrom said.
The show included performances from different drag artists, from a professional like Lala to student performers. Sampy made her drag debut as Gingey to the song “Late Nights & Heartbreak” by Hannah Williams during the second half of the show. She described being really nervous, but enjoying the experience.
“I remembered how much I really like this song and I also remembered when I’m up there, it’s not my normal self. It’s an extension of myself, so it made me less nervous and forget about like, everybody else that I thought I am, and who I claim to be outside of, you know, my normal life, and I was like, ‘you know, just be natural with it.’ Just get out there and do what you know how to do,” Sampy said.
The show had a guest speaker from HMC, Victoria Riechers, who discussed who they are and what they do. The decision to donate proceeds to HMC came as the Drag Club wanted to do what they were able to do with their capacity as college students for the community. Schrom highlighted the many positive things the HMC does for the neighborhood, including providing food and housing resources, diaper drives and trash cleanup events.
“They do a lot of small acts of care to the community that all together become really big,” Schrom said.
Morlock highlighted that the neighborhood is also where many students not only go to school, but also live.
“Most of us live on campus, or we live in the local area, so it’s not like we’re supporting a community that none of us know, like we all, at least for some time, have lived in this community, been supported by the community, so we felt that it was important to give back,” Morlock said.
Between acts, the audience was introduced to an activity to write love notes for the community on cards to be put into envelopes and delivered to neighbors.
“We felt that it’d be an easy way for everyone to get involved, even if they aren’t comfortable with getting on stage or they don’t want to be performing. It’s still a way for them to be involved and be part of the community and show support beyond fundraising. It’s support on a more personal level,” Morlock said.
The performances were met with a lively and engaged audience.
“I had a good time, I think it was really cool. It was cool to see people perform from campus that I have seen around before and some people I haven’t seen around on campus before,” sophomore Alex Brundieck said.
Sampy felt that the show was a success and noted that Lala had praised the production.
“That’s really good to hear from somebody who has been doing this for a long time and really kind of gives you that like, ‘yes, this did go well,’ and even just from watching from the crowd and how [they] interacted and the sounds and the stares you get and the smiles, that kind of just is like, ‘this went pretty good,’” Sampy said.
Morlock described enjoying the overall process of planning the event to seeing it happen in real time.
“I really enjoyed the process of planning this with one of my best friends and getting to make something physical happen and get to see everybody come and enjoy it and have like, not like, reap the benefits but like, to be able to do something productive and see that everyone is actually invested in it and in our community, was very hopeful to me and uplifting,” Morlock said.
