Oskar Hallig and his husband, Michael Zippel , are the creative team behind Only In My Dreams Events. Hallig, a Mount Washington, Mass. native met the German Zippel while working in Berlin and the two moved to the Berkshires in 2001 to run The Hilltop House Bed & Breakfast. In 2013, after more than a decade at Iredale Mineral Cosmetics, Hallig thought it was time to revisit his teenage dream of running his own event company. Only In My Dreams specializes in non-profit fundraising events, and throws the annual gay pride dance party and cabaret held each June at The Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield. On Friday, Jan. 19, OIMD will bring the region something new and fabulous: The “Miss Nogood” Drag Pageant at The Barn at the Egremont Village Inn. Recently I was looking through old papers, and back when I was in high school I’d started writing up plans for a business called Only In Your Dreams. I thought that name was a little too sassy, so I changed it to Only In My Dreams. I’ve always been an entertainer, and was always on non-profit boards and planning galas; that was my comfort zone. I grew up in a family in the television world — my dad was a TV producer — and I spent a lot of time at Tanglewood as a kid.
This June will be our third year hosting the big dance party/cabaret at the Colonial for gay pride month, and we always have a big drag component to it. To lead up to that, and to celebrate local queen Nancy Nogood’s dragiversary, we’re throwing the “Miss Nogood” Drag Pageant. Nancy and another local drag queen, Boxxa Vine, are hosting. Whomever wins will be entered into the “Miss Colonial” pageant at this year’s cabaret party on June 9. The judges include Broadway star Alison Fraser, actor and comedian Shawn Hollenbach and Heather A. Thomson from The Real Housewives of New York City, as well as renowned New York City drag queens Gilda Wabbit and Gina Tonic. I reached out to some people I know to come in as judges, and Nancy found the participants. This is much more of a real show featuring drag queens, than it is just a night out at a bar with drag performers there in the background. The Barn is such an intimate space, and we’ve worked hard with them to bring you a truly fabulous evening.
