SCATTERBOMB DRAG SHOW ZENDRAH BONNICK / THE QUADRANGLE
Zendrah Bonnick Assistant News Editor
On the night of Jan. 30, Scatterbomb, the Manhattan University (MU) improv comedy troupe, held its first-ever drag show in the Hayden Hall auditorium. The event brought in a large crowd, anticipating the night’s event. The event consisted of performances of improv comedy and lip-syncing, all while performers dressed in drag and showcased their drag personas.
The Quadrangle acquired interviews with a few of the Scatterbomb performers from the event: Ashton Herb, Lucia Kobayashi and Giada Dougherty.
Drag has a long history, being an art form tied to the performing arts and queer culture. In recent years, there has been an increase in negative public attention directed towards drag queens and the queer community, with an emphasis on transgender individuals.
Ashton Erb, a junior sociology major, commented on the importance of events like these at a time when there is a rise in anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric.
“I think that there’s such a huge significance when it comes to allowing students to express just queer culture in any form on this campus,” Erb said.
“From at least my perspective, I do know that there is a good amount of groups and little peer groups here that are very against queer representation.” Erb said, “So, I think that it’s very important that people who identify with that and who support our allies and the queer community have a space.”
Lucia Kobayashi, a junior political science major, commented on her feelings about performing.
“Drag is something that I really enjoy, as a cis person who doesn’t do drag in my free time,” Kobayashi said.
Later, during an interview, Scatterbomb troupe member Giada Dougherty, a sophomore communications major, recalled what led the troupe to perform a drag show for the first time as a club.
“We usually like to do themes every show to keep everyone engaged and excited,” Dougherty said.
“And when we were picking this theme show, we were like, why not just do drag?… [Jason Matute, Scatterbomb president, had] the idea because he did drag over winter break,” Dougherty said. “We were like, why not do a drag theme show? … How about we just do a lip sync? How about we just go all in, drag, do the lip sync for your life?”
When speaking with The Quadrangle, Kobayashi shared more of her thoughts on having a self-space that allows her own self-expression to flourish.
“I really enjoy it, and I think that everyone could gain a lot from the community and the society of drag,” Kobayashi said. “I don’t think that it’s something that you need to be a certain gender or a certain sexuality to do. It’s something that you can do and be yourself, and everyone is loving and accepting, and it’s nice to find a community like that when most communities aren’t like that.”
Dougherty elaborated further on this point, discussing what she hopes the significance of such an event will do for the MU community.
“It’s refreshing that all of us participated, no matter what sexual orientation someone is, or sexuality, we all came together and we all put respect on an art that has a lot of stigma around it,” Dougherty said.
Kobayashi, being a fan of the art form herself, came in a look which was designed as a homage to drag queens Trixie Mattel and Katya Zamolodchikova. Kobayashi shared further thoughts on participating in the drag show.
“I hope that the impact of events like these is that straight people will start watching Trixie and Katya, and then I also hope that people just start going to things on campus that they don’t typically do,” Kobayashi said.
Dougherty commented on inclusive events, citing this event as a reminder of how queer identities remain an immutable aspect of art and the human experience.
“Doing it on campus, especially a Catholic campus, it’s honestly pretty awesome… because it’s like we don’t care,” Dougherty said. “We like what we like. It’s 2026, drag and queerness are never going to go away, ever. If anything, I hope it becomes more prominent and prevalent and normal because this is normal. Just like how improv is an art, drag is an art, and we just need to keep supporting the arts, especially if it’s cooler.”