Dress to Slay for Hall-O-Queen, Starring Drag Race's Latrice Royale

You are cordially invited to unleash your latent passions and experiment with how you show up to the world this Halloween. In many ways, donning a Halloween costume is permission to live and look your most authentic. Celebrate the true spirit of Halloween with those who understand the assignment on Saturday, October 28, at Hall-O-Queen, a night of live drag performances benefiting the SAVE Foundation at R House Wynwood.

In addition to energetic performances from queens like the Greek goddess Athena Dion, Morphine Love Dion, and Juicy Love Dion, Hall-O-Queen features a full dinner and cocktail menu and a costume contest open to all that will reward audience-chosen favorites with cash prizes. There's also one large and in charge, chunky yet funky, bold and beautiful cherry on top: a drag performance from Latrice Royale, winner of the Miss Congeniality title on RuPaul's Drag Race season four and an alumnus of RuPaul's Drag Race All-Stars season four (which is streaming right now on Hulu.)

"When it's a Latrice Royale show, baby, there's only one guarantee. We're gonna do some good ol' drag and have a good ol' time," says Royale, who will star in "Why It Gotta Be White Christmas?!" in four theaters across the country this December.

Proceeds from Hall-O-Queen ticket sales benefit the SAVE Foundation, whose mission since 1993 is to protect and defend equality for South Florida's LGBTQ community by utilizing community outreach programs, public education offerings, and advising public officials and thought leaders. Orlando Gonzales, executive director of SAVE Foundation, says Hall-O-Queen, SAVE's annual Halloween celebration, occurs at a critical time for the organization.

"The fight to protect our democracy and LGBTQ+ equality is at a critical point because we are experiencing threats of voter suppression, the erasure of LGBTQ+ lives in schools, and attempts to hinder gender-affirming care for trans individuals," Gonzales says. "I'm most passionate about devoting my career to LGBTQ+ equality because it's personal, it matters to my community, and we are fighting for the rights for everyone to thrive and enjoy the rights afforded to us through the Constitution."
Athena Dion, fresh and glowing upon returning to South Florida from her summer residency at the Mykonos beach club Jackie O, says events like Hall-O-Queen thrive on creativity from performers and audience members alike, and there's no better way to show off what makes you unique than with the costume contest she'll be cohosting with Royale.

"I would definitely encourage people to get as creative as they can and use it as a night to leave the problems of the world at the door," says Dion, a native of Florida's biggest Greek enclave, Tarpon Springs, who draws inspiration from ancient Greece's strongest, most powerful goddess. "I love being back here with so many familiar faces — some people who I've missed seeing, some people who have missed seeing me. It's such a warm welcome back, especially at such a fun, festive time like Halloween when everybody can let their hair down and put on their own drag or be whoever they want to be this year."

Hall-O-Queen also serves as a homecoming celebration for Latrice Royale. Before she schooled her Drag Race castmates in the five Gs ("Good God! Get a grip, girl!"), before she performed with Jennifer Hudson for the live CBS special Fashion Rocks, and before she took her one-queen cabaret show Here's to Life from the UK to Norway and Brazil, Royale cut her teeth as a drag entertainer at Fort Lauderdale's legendary, now-closed gay clubs like the Coliseum, the Copa, and Sea Monster. Royale says it's the connections she formed in South Florida's LGBTQ community that inspired her to reach for the stars as a professional drag queen.

"I came up as a queen in South Florida watching some of the best entertainers in the industry like Tiffany Arieagus, Elektra, and Erika Norell, and I performed for years alongside inspirational sisters like Tiffany Fantasia, TP Lords, and Tayanna Love, just to name a few," Royale says. "After I was released from prison, it was those same entertainers and a handful of close friends who helped motivate me to take my career to the next level. I faced some of my darkest days in Florida, but it was also the people there who believed in me that pushed me forward."
Royale says Hall-O-Queen marks an important opportunity for her to do all she can to raise visibility for a beloved art form, one that's remained an irreplaceable ingredient of South Florida's entertainment and nightlife scenes for decades.

"Since my career has taken such a different path over the last decade, I don't always get to work much at home. I'm often on the road, filming, or in a residency somewhere, so I always enjoy the chance to be among my hometown crew. Plus, there's a whole new generation of South Florida queens and fans who I am just getting to know and learn from," Royale says. "Especially with everything we are facing from our state government, I am trying to be as visible as possible locally. Drag is not a crime, and we are not going anywhere, baby!"

Royale says events like Hall-O-Queen give everyone, regardless of how they identify, the freedom to let their inner queen reign or however else they might want to express themselves, all without fear.

"I hope people can come out and express themselves freely for a night. When the right to do that is being threatened, it's so important we take every opportunity to find the joy. I'm so grateful to SAVE for having this idea and including me," Royale says. "No matter what your gender identity or sexual orientation is, everyone deserves to feel like a queen, at least for a day. I hope people have an amazing time at the event and they continue to use that energy at the polls and in our community."

Hall-O-Queen. 8 p.m. Saturday, October 28, at R House Wynwood, 2727 NW Second Ave., Miami; rhousewynwood.com. Tickets cost $30 to $45 via eventbrite.com.