Now I know I’m probably sappier than everyone at Studio 13 put together but I just want to reiterate how incredibly lucky we, as audience members, are to experience this level of talent and dedication.
Finnegan Angelos
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‘Star Search: All Stars’ Ep. 7: Well-steeped tea spills, patterns clash and a fan favorite falls in the semi-final roast
Girl, this is not RuPaul’s best friends race. I can’t believe it’s already the top four but here we are, and what a challenge for it. I feel like everyone knows that the roast is harrowing.
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‘Star Search: All Stars’ Ep. 6: Filthy, freakish and sickening in every sense, Dragula week had the artists going all-fucking-out
It was not a night for the faint of heart. The Dragula Ball was the most gripping, nutso, disgusting thing I’ve ever seen — and it was everything. The top five created three looks for three categories: Glamour, Horror and Filth.
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‘Star Search: All Stars’ Ep. 5: Comediennes create chemistry during a pseudo-Real Housewives reunion
The Real Housewives of Johnson County, this week’s challenge, was a non-scripted, Bravo-inspired live cast reunion for a season of TV that didn’t actually happen. It was, of course, hosted by Lil Kimmy Blaque in the role of one “Candy” Cohen.
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‘Star Search: All Stars’ Ep. 4: A diamond sparkles in a lip-sync-a-rama testing contestants’ memory and stage presence
Catch up on episode one, two and three. This week’s challenge is Judge Beep Beep’s favorite, Drag Roulette, but it takes a different form than in previous seasons. A week ago, the contestants were given a sheet of songs to memorize completely, one of which would be chosen at random for them to perform. In past […]
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‘Star Search: All Stars’ Ep. 3: Purple reigned at Studio 13 as contestants snatched celebrity (and fellow drag artists’) personas
Catch up on episode one and episode two. The infamous Snatch Game. Even in the actual RuPaul’s Drag Race, I dread Snatch Game. For those unfamiliar, it’s basically a sketch comedy routine. Each contestant chooses someone to impersonate and then participates in a dating show as that character — totally method. For those of us […]
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‘Star Search: All Stars’ Ep. 2: Hats are thrown into the ring as girl groups perform, alliances form
For those uninitiated, Star Search: All Stars is a live, weekly reality competition show in Iowa City’s Studio 13, that’s basically the region’s own RuPaul’s Drag Race. There’s been five previous seasons, but this one is special: it’s an all winners and almost-winners lineup. Each contestant has competed before and was a crowd favorite. […]
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The ultimate Iowa City drag competition has begun, and the sparks are flying already. Here’s your intro to ‘Star Search: All Stars’
You don’t know Iowa drag if you don’t know Studio 13’s Star Search. And if you don’t know Star Search, you can start your education with Star Search: All Stars. The new season premiered this past weekend, and you’re going to want to clear out your Sundays, 9-11 p.m., for about the next nine weeks. […]
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At LIAL, queer history is an ever-growing hodgepodge of letters, diaries, doodles, recipes, magazines and ‘GAY ART’
My best friend Valentine will sometimes text me a picture of a page from his old journal. We’ve been friends a long time. Last fall he sent me a page, a beautiful letter — he still writes entries like the poets do, formally — in which he gushes about the sanctity of queerness, of our […]
