Omega Man is the theater honorary service fraternity, Alpha Psi Omega’s, annual end of the year fundraiser to help pay for their farewell banquet.  

Omega man will take place on May 4at 7 p.m. in the Center for Performing Arts. Pre-sale tickets will cost five dollars and will be available for purchase at the EZ black box theater concession stand on May 2and 3. Tickets will also be available at the door for seven dollars.  

Omega Man is a drag show/beauty pageant that originally started as a men’s beauty pageant that poked fun at typical women’s beauty pageants by having the male contestants perform in a swimsuit competition, talent show and a formal attire portion.

It took a shift more towards drag after one of the male contestants did a drag performance during one of the segments. After that, Omega Man slowly started incorporating more elements of drag.   

The president of Alpha Psi Omega, Lauren Odioso is in charge of spearheading the event and explains a little about how the evolution into more of a drag show took place.

“I feel like it really took its form over the past five years. It started off with a little bit of drag where people just came together and had a good time, but now it’s really a drag competition,” Odioso said. “It’s still fun and in good spirit but it’s definitely something that everyone looks forward to at the end of the year.”

A big difference between this year’s Omega Man and previous ones is the decision of last year’s winner and this year’s host, Ryan Borgo, to include drag kings in the show as well.

Borgo explains that his reasoning for opening it up to everyone is rooted in difficulties in finding just men to be involved, especially when there were interested women.

“There needs to be a new perspective on things because it’s not just men doing drag its females and people who identify as female doing drag as well. Which is really really exciting, so I sat back and thought ‘let’s do this’,” Borgo said.

A drag queen is typically a man who dresses in hyper-feminized clothing and makeup and acts in a way that exaggerates femininity. A drag king is typically a woman who dresses in a very masculine way and personifies a lot of male stereotypes.  

A person’s drag name is not always but usually different than their real name. These names are often over the top and can be a play on words. Some examples of these names are Alaska Thunderfuck, Freida Slaves or Sham Payne.

Borgo’s drag name is Miss Behave, Miss Ida Wana Behave. Your Daddy’s worst nightmare.

A drag show is a performance by both drag kings and queens which can include comedy acts, dance routines, acting and singing either original music or lip-syncing to popular songs.

Drag shows usually fall on the more raunchy and vulgar side of performances and are typically associated with gay men or gay culture. However, there are numerous fan and participants that are of a variety of sexual preferences and identifications.

There are five contestants in the show. Three are drag kings Faith Roush (Luke Warm), Sara BenBella (Ben Balla), and Mikaela Ray (Parker Outback) and two are drag queens John J. Smith (Donna Matrix Michael) and Emery Fox (Annie Dee Pressaunts).

Smith and Emery have had experience in drag before, but this will be Roush, BenBella and Ray’s first appearance in drag.   

Borgo shared his experience with Omega Man and what he thinks it does for the people involved and encourages others to experience it.

“To me Omega Man is a celebration of art, friends, drag, theater, and of togetherness. I think that this is an event that should be celebrated and pushed for everyone because it brings together a sense of community especially within everyone,” Borgo said.

Zachary Blanner is a tech reporter. Contact him at [email protected].