The week of April 7 featured several events celebrating the diverse identities of the LGBTQ+ community. For the final Pride Week event, SAGA hosted a late night drag brunch featuring local Rhode Island drag performers. Students enjoyed a delicious buffet-style brunch of waffles, bacon, sausage, cinnamon apple and blueberry overnight oats. As students sat down to enjoy the show, drag performers Summer Woods, Rage Ramzee-Brown, and Gigi Von Shee delivered stellar performances that got the crowd excited. Each drag queen strutted and worked the stage in their beautifully glittered outfits, singing songs from a variety of artists, TV shows, and musicals. 

Summer Woods, also known as Anthony Merenda, is a graduating senior studying Performing Arts at RWU. Merenda is a passionate performer who is heavily involved in the theater productions from managing stage operations, being president of Stage Co, to singing and acting at the Barn. 

Rage Ramzee-Brown is a local drag queen that performs and hosts shows in Providence. Ramzee-Brown has frequented RWU for SAGA events in the past and continues to amaze the student body with their fierce lip-syncs every time they are onstage. 

This year, RWU had the pleasure of meeting a new drag queen, Gigi Von Shee. A friend, a sister, and co-worker of Ramzee-Brown, Von Shee gave a fresh and comedic performance,  naturally taking the stage as she made the audience burst out with laughter and lip-synced to several musical numbers, truly giving it her all.

As the event came to an end, all three queens performed a final number to “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” that truly made the room go wild. The heartfelt lyrics, stunning costumes, and fabulous dancing was a wonderful way to end the event. 

For their final words, the queens shared a heart-touching moment with the students about the LGBTQ+ community and drag performances. 

“Drag is a form of expression,” Von Shee said, “it’s more than glittery costumes, it’s a community of love.” 

Drag performances are one of many ways in which the LGBTQ+ community can come together to celebrate diverse identities; it provides fun and laughter in hard times, and being able to celebrate queer and trans identities at RWU is what SAGA hopes to continue to foster on campus.

Follow the amazing people who made this event happen on Instagram @rwusaga, @_summer_woods_19, @rageramzee, and @gigivonshee!