Husain Sattar said he wanted to "shake the city." And last night at the Orchard House Theatre, it felt like he did just that.
The vibe was electric, the performances sickening, and the audience as deafening and responsive as any Penticton crowd in recent memory last night as Sattar's vision played out.
It was called "Fierce and Feminine" - a drag and music show intended not only to make a statement, but also to raise money for a good cause.
It did both, with panache.
Four years ago, Sattar, a student at Princess Margaret Secondary, founded a school organization dubbed the Youth Advisory Council. The Council's motto is "Made by the youth, for the youth," and its expressed goal has been to raise funds for Penticton's YES (Youth Engagement Strategy) Project.
Last night's event was the final fundraiser before Sattar and a whole bunch for his peers graduate. And they opted for a drag show because, says Sattar, "It was the best way I could think of to do something for the LGBTQ2+ community and represent the marginalized, oppressed youth. And then combine that with raising money for all types of youth, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity."
First on the stage was professional drag queen Jenna Telz, of Kelowna. Born to a Jehovah's Witness family, Telz, whose real name is Grayson Nordgren, was drummed out of the church and lost touch with his family simply because he was gay. He soon immersed himself in the art of drag, and is now one of Canada's fiercest queens.
Telz werked the crowd like nobody's business last night, spending much of her performance in the audience, eliciting squeals of delight with her goth look, her sense of comedy, and of course her dancing. A killer sound system pumping out bass-heavy beats didn't hurt either.
When Telz hit the stage, the crowd was already raucous. By the time she left, it was bananas. But it was about to go crazier still.
Dressed in a slinky red gown, Husain Sattar appeared from behind the curtain and the decibel level cranked to the max. Satter, along with three of his friends, decided a few weeks ago to make their very first forays into the world of drag solely for this show, and the crowd ate up every minute of it.
In her newly formed drag persona of Stella Nova, Sattar seemingly lost whatever butterflies she might have had early, impressing with her runway walk and her knee and death drops.
Later, it was Anya Knees (John Mellart), bare-waisted and wearing a flowing pink wig, and May Flowers (Austin Wells), in a blue gown and some seriously high heels. And each of them slayed it.
And then it was local singer/songwriter/musician Jessica Singleton's turn. The first non-drag act of the evening, Singleton nevertheless kept the audience thoroughly engaged with a Lady Gaga-focused trio of tunes. Halfway through her impressive set, she said, "This is the best crowd I've ever performed for." And she meant it.
Later, May Flowers (Austin Wells), a 20-year-old server at Boston Pizza in Vernon, said she'd spent much of the last month practicing in her bedroom for this one night.
"I practiced with my makeup and my hair and all this stuff," she said, gesturing to his gown and her heels. "I've never done this before."
Flowers credited her parents with being fully supportive, and was thrilled that her mom was able to make the show.
"The crowd was amazing. It was awesome to be surrounded by so many people who were just happy to see you walk out on stage. The song hadn't even started yet and everyone was on their feet. Everyone was so kind and so accepting. It was amazing."
And May Flowers likely won't be a one-time deal. "I absolutely want to do it again. It was such a high."
Sitting in the front row all evening and revelling in the performances - and singing along with most of the songs - was Princess Margaret Grade 12 student Kevin Styba-Nelson.
"I'm really great friends with the coordinator," he said. "I've known him since Grade 6. And I'm really good friends with Jessica too. She's amazing. Her voice is so beautiful."
But it wasn't just friendship that brought him to Orchard House.
"First and foremost, this is a fundraiser for the youth resource centre. This community desperately needs it. So as much as we're all having a great time, it's going to be such a great thing for the community. I'm so happy this event is here. I hope something like this happens again soon in Penticton," said Styba-Nelson.
Organizer and first-time drag performer Sattar was thrilled that everything came together so perfectly.
"It's literally crazy. I feel like this is more than 200 people (the number of tickets available). We sold out this morning. We didn't even have any tickets to sell at the door."
And an anonymous donor contributed a $1,000 cheque.
When asked about his trio of drops, Sattar laughed and said he "can't feel pain anymore." He said his look was a cross between Drag Race stars Naomi Smalls and Valentina, "with a dash of Sasha Velour." And, like Wells, he claimed his first time in drag likely won't be his last.
"This is going to happen again. It'll happen again. I won't be here (he has a scholarship to Capilano University in North Vancouver), but guess who might make a guest surprise appearance? Who knows?"
"I think I'm going to keep this wig."
Aaron McRann, executive director of the Community Foundation of the Okanagan, the organization behind the YES Project, busied himself most of the night taking photos and videos and acting star-struck.
"It's an absolute sellout. It's totally jammed," he said. "This group, they were the first group, including all of the adults in this town, to commit to buying a room at Foundry. So it's pretty cool."
"And this is the last thing they need to do to finish their commitment, and I can tell you right now they've hit their target. I'm really proud of all of them."
