Appalachian State University’s Department of Theatre and Dance will present the fundraiser “Roxanne’s Rivalry” in the Valborg Theatre on March 4 at 7 p.m. Proceeds from the show help fund five annual scholarships for students majoring in theatre education. Tickets are $5 for students, $10 for university employees and $15 for the general public and are available at the door. The show is appropriate for ages 16 and up.
"Roxanne's Rivalry" is an hour-and-a-half long "Family Feud" style guessing game with a drag queen host, real audience participation, saucy side commentary, tacky prizes and drag performances by special guests. This interactive show is devised and directed by Theatre Professor and Appalachian alum Gordon Hensley ’97 and is designed to poke fun at the garish gameshow genre.
“It's the littlest big show in town” said Hensley, who has spent months developing the show’s concept and technical elements. “Your hilarious drag queen host Roxanne Davenport, daughter of bajillionaire Big Daddy Davenport, is a goofy upbeat pageant gal who is a family-friendly country bumpkin entertainer. She’s the Lady of the High Country. You’ll love her.”
The show is set during a fictional, long-running TV gameshow, placing the theatre audience in the role of the studio audience and then adding drag queens as hosts. Real audience members are chosen as the contestants of the game and they win fabulously tacky prizes. In addition to watching and playing the gameshow, the audience also witnesses a “dragstravaganza” of silly commercial breaks and pop-up drag performances by special guests.
This is the second performance of “Roxanne’s Rivalry.” The first, held in December 2016, raised more than $600 toward the scholarship.
About the Department of Theatre and Dance
The Department of Theatre and Dance is one of seven departments housed in Appalachian’s College of Fine and Applied Arts. Its mission is to facilitate transformative experiences for students and the public, which cultivate compassionate, creative and collaborative communities through theatre and dance. The department also offers coursework for integrated learning through the arts to the general university student population. Its dynamic co-curricular production program provides exemplary theatre and dance experiences to departmental students, the university community and the region.
About Appalachian
Appalachian State University, in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, prepares students to lead purposeful lives as global citizens who understand and engage their responsibilities in creating a sustainable future for all. The transformational Appalachian experience promotes a spirit of inclusion that brings people together in inspiring ways to acquire and create knowledge, to grow holistically, to act with passion and determination, and embrace diversity and difference. As one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina system, Appalachian enrolls about 18,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and graduate majors.
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