Make Banana Cry at Buddies in Bad Times

“banana” isn’t just slang — it’s a symbol of the performance, erasure, and reclamation of self.

Choreographers Andrew Tay and Stephen Thompson are the co-creators of Make Banana Cry, a genre-defying work merging runway aesthetics with contemporary performance and dance. 

In an attempt to shake off the weight of representation and fetishization, an international cast of six East Asian artists critique, parody, and protest stereotypes of “Asian-ness.” Slipping between the codes of couture and contemporary art, straddling spectacles of consumption and entertainment, Make Banana Cry is an impressive demonstration of physicality, an unrelenting examination of Western xenophobia, and an ingenious show of humour and wit.  Presented for the first time in Toronto after critically acclaimed performances at Impulstanz (Vienna), Portland Institute of Contemporary Art and Festival TransAmériques (Montreal).