A Slay A Day: Meet Laurel Charleston of the PSU Student Drag Show

Full name: Luke Nosal

Stage name: Laurel Charleston

Year and major: Senior, Bachelor in Music, Performance

Instagram: @Laurelcharleston

All photos by Katerina Procyk | Her Campus Penn State​

With the PSU Fall Student Drag Show coming up this Thursday, we’re thrilled to be featuring some of the incredible queens who will be performing. Luke Nosal, a Penn State senior, serves looks like no other as Laurel Charleston — as pictured above. Check out our interview with the “fishy mother of ten” below! 

HC: How long have you been doing drag?

LN: This October will actually be my one year anniversary of doing drag!

HC: Did you follow the art form before you started it?

LN: Omg yes. I’ve been watching Rupaul’s drag race since I was a senior in high school and I’ve been actively following a ton of queens and queer artists on Instagram for years.

HC: How do you think drag has changed you as a person?

LN: Drag has changed how I approach gender dramatically and has made me more aware of the many constructs that our society creates around gender. It also has made me a killer performer and entertainer, making me extremely comfortable in my skin so that I can always turn the party for my audience.

HC: Why do you feel drag is important?

LN: It’s an amazing experience to be in such an [accepting], loving and creative environment for one night. It’s also bomb entertainment presented to you at a very high level; it’s hard to find this anywhere else especially at other universities. It’s such a creatively immersive art form. As a drag queen, nobody is there to put your look together, choreograph your number, paint your face, etc. — so it’s wild to see all of these queer students [working so hard] and being so damn creative!

HC: How do you feel drag fights gender norms?

LN:  Drag queens take the gender norms that are put on the women and our society and magnify them, showing how goddamn ridiculous they are. A successful woman should wear heals (so we wear 7-inch heels), should wear lipstick (so we overdraw our lips), should have nice nails (so we wear 2-inch nails), etc.

HC: What do you hope the audience takes away from this show?

LN: I honestly just hope that people have a good time. I want people to come into Alumni Hall, forget about any worries or struggles that they might be going through and just have a sickening night where we can celebrate all of these amazing performers!

HC: How do you feel drag plays a role in Penn State becoming a more inclusive environment?

LN: By having large, public drag shows we are giving visibility to our queer community and hopefully providing an inclusive space that is accessible for everyone on campus.

Don’t miss out — come to the PSU Fall Student Drag Show at 10 p.m. on October 12 in Alumni Hall! Admission is free with a valid PSU student ID. 

• drag queens
• LGBTQIA+
• queen
• slay