This year’s finest Valentine’s Day value is a Vortex Theatre ticket to the queerest dating game show around: Masc4Match. Hosted by Bobby Pudrido, a cast of celebrity-impersonating bachelors played by fellow drag kings Flex Brojas, Khattie Q., and Travis Randy Travis compete for the heart of one Kairos Looney. The three-night show (Feb. 13-15) comes from queer masculine event series producers Butch Prom – aka Olivia Emigh and Sophia Rumbarger.
Carving out a space to celebrate queer masculinity was the very impetus for Butch Prom, which had its first event – a wrestling-themed “prom” – last July, also at the Vortex space. The concept of a party centering trans-masculine people, butch lesbians, and drag kings had often been a conversation topic for Rumbarger, who would bring up to butch friends that “it’d be so cool if we could go to a party that was more for us, by us.” Originally imagined as a house party, the idea evolved thanks to a fateful medieval meeting. “I went to the Ren Faire,” she recalled, “and I ran into Olivia there. I have a distinct memory of being in the heat because it was April, and she handed me her phone and said something like, ‘You know, you don’t have to do this at your house. You can do this at a bar.’”
“I was like, ‘Wow. That’s just shifted my whole paradigm.’”
Emigh remembered 2025 being a year where her goal was “to center queer joy in my events as much as possible as my form of resistance.” Serendipitously, her mind had also been on masculinity – specifically finding a way to have more fun with it in a safe space. Running into Rumbarger proved the perfect motivation. “It just seemed like our two ideas meshed and aligned really well,” Emigh said.
Lucky for them, Rumbarger’s first-choice host was interested – one Bobby Pudrido. A former organizer with the Austin Dyke March as well as a frequent fixture at Lesbian Wedding over at Sahara Lounge, Pudrido was impressed by Butch Prom’s first outing. “I had such a good time that I remember even telling my friends I hope they book me again,” he said, “because this was such a good event.” So when Emigh and Rumbarger reached out asking for a host for their new Valentine’s show, Pudrido signed on right away.
Rumbarger’s initial idea was a drag king-filled version of RuPaul’s Drag Race feature the Snatch Game, where performers imitate and goof on various pop-culture icons. “It’s essentially like a dating game show for butches,” Pudrido explained. “Instead of bachelors, they’re going to be butchelors.” Bringing Pudrido into the show allowed the integration of more theatrical and improv elements, as the performer had already been experimenting with drag theatre via OUTsider Fest and Museum of Human Achievement projects. Venue choice was obvious, as Butch Prom’s willingness to donate all proceeds to a local organization (then Black Trans Leadership of Austin, this time around ATX Free Fridge) made the Vortex enthusiastic for their return. (It also helped that, according to Emigh, the first Butch Prom event was one of Butterfly Bar’s highest drink sales nights.)
The folks behind Butch Prom’s productions hope this show proves to be a love letter to the butch, drag king, and lesbian community – exemplars of queer masculinity. “It’s very sweet and romantic,” Emigh said. “It’s kind of what we all deserve for masculinity that we don’t really get, obviously, from mainstream masculinity.”
“It’s like a refurbishing of an existing thing and doing it totally new,” Rumbarger added. “There’s something super beautiful about that. You end up feeling like a self-made man, but in a different sense of the word.”
This article appears in February 13 • 2026.
