Wildly Successful Night for What A Drag

The curtain has closed on a wildly successful night at Teatro Vallarta for What A Drag 2025. The show, which features straight men in drag, began 11 years ago in much smaller venues, and has grown to leave only a handful of tickets unsold at the 900-seat theater. Wow. What a night. The cleaning crew will be cursing glitter and confetti for days. The upside is over three million pesos were raised to help battered women and their children escape domestic violence.

Casa Esperanza Founder and Director David Zude, introduced the staff from the shelter and walked us through the process of helping the women and children restart their lives from the ground up. The kids occupy 75% of the space at Casa Esperanza. With David onstage was Freda Thompson, Chair of WAD and consummate fundraiser all these years. She was recognized publicly – finally! – by local governments for her long, unfailing service to the community. A street renamed in her honor would not be asking too much.

Seven straight men sang, lip-synced, danced, and – in keeping with the circus theme, clowned around onstage with their Fairy Drag Mothers anxiously waiting for them in the wings of Teatro Vallarta.

The emcee for the evening was Amy Armstrong, once again, broken arm and all. She had no trouble filling in the time lags when the show slowed backstage. Amy bantered with the audience and had us often screaming with laughter, most of the time at her own expense; the entire community of Vallarta dearly loves her.

I was Georgia Darehshori’s date for the evening; her private villa, Casa Karma, sponsored Dabit Azofeifa (Circoncierto, Saturnalia, Vacare). He blew kisses from the stage down to us in the front row. And while Dabit didn’t win, but is First Runner Up, he did a masterful performance onstage.

Poncho Loza Marquez, “Poncharella” won the tiara and What a Drag 2025 title. He chanelled Tina Turner’s dancing abilities to a tee! I watched him towards the end of show, while the runners-up were being announced, shifting his weight from side to side, trying to relieve his foot pain in his dangerously high heels. The first thing he did when he won was kick the damn things off! Every woman in the audience could relate.

The entertainment between contestants was amazingly good, with Sargento and Steven Retchless pulling out all the stops. Former contestants Nacho Granados, Víctor Do Espirito, and Diego Arreola sang solos, and Amy Armstrong teamed up with her guitarist ‘Mimi’ twice. You can catch their show weekly at Nacho Daddy, another proud sponsor of What a Drag.

The afterparty at La Catrina Cantina (that I wisely chose not to attend) likely went on to the early morning hours.

I am so grateful to be a part of this extraordinary company of people who participate somehow in these fundraisers. The tired old adage about it taking a village has never rung more true. Someone puts out a hand in need and is surrounded instantly by loving, compassionate ex-pats who give back to this lovely Mexican city that has adopted us all every single day.

To Freda Thompson, take a bow and a bouquet of thanks from the dozens and dozens of women and children you have directly and indirectly saved from often mortal danger. And for raising awareness, chairing WAD, and showing us how to get things done and then improving on them every year.