This article was written by Gabriel Mott and Alison Ringhiser.
After their absence last year, the joint student-professional drag performance A Rubi Affair returned to ONU last week. Unlike past years in McIntosh, this event was held in the Freed Center.
The Rubi Girls are a troupe of drag performers based in Dayton, Ohio whose mission is “to see an end to HIV/AIDS, an end to discrimination, and an end to intolerance and injustice.” The Rubi Girls have always performed for the benefit of charity, and in their 30+ year career have raised “over $3 million for HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ+ charities,” according to a press release regarding A Rubi Affair.
Broken by two audience participation segments, the event featured mostly the Rubi Girls performing choreographed dance and lip-sync routines to songs ranging from “Cell Block Tango” to “These Boots are Made for Walkin’.” Only two student drag performers participated, competing as a pair to Lady Gaga’s “Lovegame.” Audience members voted for their favorite performer among the Rubi Girls.
No admission was charged at A Rubi Affair, and the Rubi Girls performed for free. A raffle and donation-based voting system benefited Equitas Health in Lima, which provides healthcare services at a low cost, including services of pertinence to the LGBTQ+ community.
A Rubi Affair at ONU has been sponsored for twenty years by Open Doors, one of Ohio Northern University’s LGBTQ+ organizations. Ruth Lim, President of Open Doors, provided a brief introduction to the event.
Bryan Lutz, Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Composition, is the faculty advisor of Open Doors. He also announced the winners at the end of A Rubi Affair. He says the event went “really, really well” despite the past years’ “starts and stops, mainly due to COVID.” He says the nature of drag performance is to “satirize[] all of the gender…who we’re supposed to be.”
Lutz also commented on the diverse audience present at A Rubi Affair. Although drag often caters to a queer audience, Lutz says Open Doors’ event has interested many non-LGBT students: “I would say that the allyship is strong.”
Troy Welker, Senior Neuroscience and Psychology major, is a former Open Doors member who volunteered to help staff the event. Like Lutz, Welker is “very pleased with how [A Rubi Affair] went.”
We had the opportunity to converse directly with the Rubi Girls after the show. Alyssa Plymouth lamented the lack of student participation, noting that past performances of A Rubi Affair at ONU had “8 or 9 or 10” student performers.
Dana Sintell, another Rubi Girl, explained the evolution of drag since the Rubi Girls began performing in the 1980s: “it was very cutting edge.” Now, she says doing drag is “almost an expectation of the gay community.”
Overall, the Rubi Girls stressed to us that students should consider trying drag, and that a venue such as A Rubi Affair doesn’t require or expect performative perfection.
