May 23 at 7pm
Multi-Disciplinary Performance
Sliding scale $20 - $40 plus GST
Experimental Sacred is a double-feature featuring a multi-disciplinary duet performed by drag artists SKIM and Maiden China, followed by a musical set performed by Kimmortal.
what if you and i could = us is a collaboration between Kendell Yan and Romi Kim written for their drag personas Maiden China and SKIM. It is an experimental play that explores the weight of representation as marginalized members of Korean and Chinese diaspora, the complexities and intersections of transness, gender and sexuality, and what it means to be in their bodies in public and private spheres.
This project is an iterative work, previously known as “YOU AND I ≠ US”. The script, format, delivery, and supporting media all change with autobiographical consideration to the artists’ lived experience and the context of the space it is performed in.
In Sacred Noise, Kimmortal constructs real-time sonic incantations guided by the movement of fire and the theme of letting go. Weaving improvisational mark-making, filipinx folk-future storytelling, and silly sounds, they form a circle of textured sacred noise.
甄念菻 / Kendell Yan (she/they) is a second generation Chinese, trans-femme, non-binary artist practicing on the stolen lands of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh, and səl̓ílwətaʔ nations. She is a multidisciplinary artist, event producer, and artistic director at Queer Based Media. Her artistic practice centers her drag identity Maiden China. Through this lens she explores themes of vulnerability, intimacy, queer ritual, and hyphenated/liminal experience. She is inspired by classical Chinese opera, glamour, punk, and evil women. They are a member of the House of Rice, “Canada’s” premiere all-Asian drag family, as well as the Darlings, an experimental non-binary drag theatre collective.
김새로미 / Romi Kim or SKIM in drag, is an interdisciplinary artist currently living on the unceded land of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and Sel̓íl̓witulh Nations. Kim is a nonbinary, trans-masc, second-generation Korean lesbian. They identify themselves in using these words as verbs rather than nouns or adjectives—constantly in action, and in flux. Their artistic practice is explored through an interdisciplinary approach and intersectional feminist queer theory. Kim has shown works in Seoul, South Korea -Ani-seed Festival and Space 55; the United Kingdom -Queer Asia Festival; the University of Toronto (2024); Vancouver -Vines Festival (2023), the Polygon Art gallery (2021) and SUM gallery (2022). SKIM is the only Drag King in the House of Rice and he is co producer of his own drag show called King Sized. They have been a part of producing and performing in various theatre shows such as The Transform Festival's Opening Bash, Cultch Theatre, The ReVolver Festival, and The Array.
A second generation child of filipino immigrants, Kimmortal grew up in the strict confines of religious dogmatism. Their experiences making art gave them the freedom to imagine something more. A multidisciplinary artist, kimmortal aims to defy, uplift and inspire — weaving their queerness and politics into joyful rituals of resistance and imagination. A sagittarius who also loves to draw, they are a student of wordsmiths within hip hop and spoken word, and spent their early years acting on theatre stages, listening to poetry in their headphones, and painting in art school cubicles. Today, kimmortal reclaims their narrative through “making whatever they they want,” leaning into their weirdo inner child, and exploring sonic possibilities, always with collective resistance at top of mind.
