BAX | Brooklyn Arts Exchange Presents DRAG SHOWCASE: BETWEEN AND BEYOND GENDER

BAX is has announced its Winter Drag Show featuring participants from Kelindah Schuster aka Theydy Bedbug's class, "Drag Performance: Between and Beyond Gender." This culminating showcase will feature 15 original performance pieces by emerging experimental drag artists who subvert both gender and genre.

This year's cohort was curated and led by Kelindah aka Theydy Bedbug with Drag Performers Untitled Queen, The Cake Boys, and Junior Mintt, who served as Guest Facilitators for the season. Join us in community as we celebrate queer joy and gender-expansive expression!

The Drag Performance Class, which was first launched in early 2021 and is part of BAX's Practice Lab, focuses on developing drag characters that expand what it means to be a drag queen, king, thing, in between or beyond what has been seen. Through group games, writing prompts, discussion, and solo and collaborative movement exercises, participants give themselves permission to express the full range of who they are-and can be-while releasing narratives about how they "should" move, express, or dress based on inherited gender norms. They experiment with the tools of pantomime, clowning, lip sync, caricature, structured improv and intuitive movement to build towards in-process drag performance acts. While this class is focused primarily on performance skills, they touch upon what goes into making a drag act including: makeup, costumes, creating a musical track, movement choreography and technical production choices.

Kelindah's work does not end there - The adult Drag Performance classes at BAX are one of the many ways BAX promotes dialogue and education surrounding gender across generations. Since 2019, Kelindah has been teaching Drag Performance youth studio classes and workshops for families in the BAX Building as well as providing Gender Expression Workshops in BAX Public School Arts Partnerships. The latter includes programming for families (children and caregivers), professional development workshops for educators, and in-school residencies. BAX's Gender Expression Programming uses dramatic play, structured improvisation, character and script-devising exercises to deepen understanding of gender identity and invites innovative ways to explore and express our fully liberated selves, including expansive gender identities and experiences with stereotypes and bias to help build understanding and communication skills. These programs are for LGBTQIA-identifying and non-LGBTQIA participants alike.

Kelindah Schuster (they/them) is a nonbinary educator and drag performance artist known as "Theydy Bedbug," and the current reigning Mx. Brooklyn. They grew up in Singapore and Indonesia, studied Drama and Gender studies at Vassar College and have been teaching, producing, and creating art at BAX since 2015. As their performance persona, they have performed, emceed and produced in venues such as Pioneer Works, Gibney Dance, Dixon Place, Triskelion Arts, Coney Island USA, The Stonewall Inn, UCB, Chelsea Music Hall, The Tank, BAM, VICE Headquarters, Columbia University, National Sawdust, FIT, Earthdance, and The Knockdown Center. Their teaching makes space for problem-solving societal dilemmas, imagining new possibilities, and expressing differences with joyful authenticity. They believe that access to spaces of genderful play in performance and creation is a step toward collective liberation. Learn More About Kelindah Here! Download This Press Release & More Images Here Buy Tickets Here!

The show will be in person at the BAX Theater as well as live streamed with auto-cart. Please note that the BAX Theater is located on the third floor of the building and there is no elevator or ramp. While we are actively working on a permanent solution and are committed to providing a fully ADA compliant space, we are not quite there yet.

For more information on our Accessibility Initiatives visit our website.

BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange, founded in 1991, is a multigenerational arts organization nurturing creative expression and artistic process through education, residencies, and performance at the intersection of arts and social justice.

BAX is dedicated to serving artists in progress, from children to professionals, at all ages and stages of development. The multi-faceted nature of BAX programs annually invites over 10,000 students, families, artists, audiences, and community members to embark on, and share creative journeys. For three decades, BAX has honored the power of performing arts to connect and transform individuals and communities. The education programs, artist residencies, affordable rehearsal space, community engagement opportunities, mentorship, and performances, all center artists from historically underrepresented backgrounds and prioritize lived and embodied experiences, and access, regardless of ability to pay.

Public support from the National Endowment for the Arts; New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council; the New York State Assembly; and City Councilmembers Shahana Hanif, Crystal Hudson, and Lincoln Rester.

Private support from Jody and John Arnhold | Arnhold Foundation, Lily Auchincloss Foundation, Booth Ferris Foundation, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Café Royal Cultural Foundation, Con Edison, The Copper Beech Foundation, Farmer Mold & Machine Works, Ford Foundation, Harkness Foundation for Dance, Marta Heflin Foundation, Hyde & Watson Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, William Talbott Hillman Foundation, Investors Foundation, Jerome Foundation, M&T Charitable Foundation, Pierre & Tana Matisse Foundation, Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, New York Community Trust, The Rea Charitable Trust, Jerome Robbins Foundation, David Rockefeller Fund, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuel Foundation, Scherman Foundation, Sustainable Arts Foundation, Tiger Baron Foundation, the Venable Foundation, and Webster Bank.

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