Dressed in a festive, sparkling red Christmas dress with white trim, Farrah Night took the stage, sauntering to the sounds of "All I Want for Christmas is You" and tossing gifts to an eager crowd.

While it may have been unusual for this performance to have taken place more than two months before Christmas, what was perhaps even more unusual is that "Farrah Night" was, in fact, Christopher Tomaszewicz (senior-environmental systems engineering) in drag.

Cristopher was joined by 12 other drag kings and queens Saturday night at Penn State's third annual Student Drag Show, sponsored by Undertones, a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender people and their allies (LGBTA) advocacy organization.

The show was one of the last events of 2006's National Coming Out Week.

"It's very colorful and very out of the ordinary," Tomaszewicz said. "How often do you get to see some boys dress up like girls?"

The drag performers were cheered on by about 250 students, a crowd Tomaszewicz said was smaller than usual because of Saturday's football game.

The drag performers presented characters with names ranging from "Oliver Clothesoff" to "Marisol" and such varied personalities as the daughter of "an aristocratic family of Siberian reindeer herders" to the "wife of an imprisoned Columbian drug lord."

Ann Tomaszewicz (junior-animal bioscience) wore a false beard, blue robes and a large cross around her neck. Fuming in Russian, she presented herself as Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin, the infamous Russian mystic who supposedly managed to survive numerous assassination attempts.

"They try kill me, they try shooting me, they try poison me, they try drown me and I'm back to Penn State because I'm so fabulous," Ann said in a deep Russian accent.

Ann and two backup dancers clapped and twirled as a Boney M song declared, "Ra Ra Rasputin -- Russia's greatest love machine."

While Ann said she felt her character was the crowd favorite, she understood the judges' decision not to declare Rasputin the drag king of the show.

"I feel like they felt I was just making a mockery of the whole thing," Ann said.

Ann said people who are put off by drag shows are missing out.

"We're just out here having a good time -- and I get to dance very sexy-like," she said.

As the judges tallied the contestants' scores, audience members, including Christian Matheis, assistant director of the LGBTA resource center, were invited on stage to participate in a "booty-shaking" competition.

Lisa Moore, a 2006 Penn State alumna, said she came to the drag show because she was friends with three of the contestants.

"I like it because you see a different side of Penn State," she said. "Plus drag queens are awesome."

Emma Futhey (freshman-theatre) said this was the first drag show she had attended.

"Um -- it was pretty insane," she said. "Some parts were a little unnecessary, but it's all about the show."

Emcee Michael "Peaches" Granville (sophomore-rehabilitation services) said at the end of the night all of the performers had something to be proud of.

"In my eyes, they're all ladies," Granville said.