May 24 at 7pm
A mixed program of poetry, drag and film complimented by a bespoke matcha beverage.
Sliding scale $25 - $45 plus GST including Matcha beverage
Johnny D Trinh is a community-engaged artist with practices in spoken word, theatre, and culinary arts. Johnny’s research interests are in autoethnography, and the cultivation of identity through food, story, and memory making. Trinh holds an MFA: Interdisciplinary Studies, and holds leadership roles at: Vancouver Poetry House, State to Page Performance Society and Historic Joy Kogawa House. , “It takes a community to build an artist ... whether we are nurtured by it, or resist against it’, Johnny Trinh.
Miel Enage is a second-generation Filipina poet and spoken word artist based in Vancouver. Writing and performing since 2009, her work explores the intersections of healing, identity, womanhood, and self-reclamation. Through her poetry, Miel traces how love, loss, and lineage shape the ways we learn to soften and survive. Her first self-published book, Heal & Conquer (2017), reflected on the lessons of leaving a unhealthy relationship and rediscovering her sense of self. She is currently working on her second collection — a deeper exploration of growth, tenderness, nuance and the cycles we break to become whole.
Sol Diana is a half-Filipino, half-Irish spoken word artist, high school teacher, and boxing coach born and raised on the traditional, ancestral, unceded, and occupied lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tseil-Waututh First Nations. His passion lies with empowering youth to realize their humanities through art, education, and sport. Sol's own writing focuses on place, belonging, and grief and is influenced by the Filipino-Canadian youth artists and musicians he was raised around.
Ronnie Cheng 鄭芷路 is a queer Hong Konger interdisciplinary artist whose primary mediums are lens-based art, animation, new media art, and creative writing. Ronnie’s interest in the arts stems from a love for people, and thus, from values of community care and radical kindness. Ronnie graduated from the Bachelor of Media Studies program with a minor in English at the University of British Columbia (Okanagan), as the recipient of the 2021 Vernon Film Society Media Prize and the 2024 Creative Studies Bachelor of Media Studies Award (capstone project: “the lights will take you home 隨光尋家”, projection installation). Since then, Ronnie has had the honour of being Jessie-nominated for projection design, being a Commissioned Artist at the Festival of Recorded Movement, and having gallery work exhibited across Western Canada. Ronnie is currently based on the unceded and ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Sophia Mai Wolfe (she/her) is a queer, Japanese-Canadian independent artist. She is currently the Organizational Director of Recorded Movement Society. She is a grateful guest on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Her interdisciplinary practice moves through dancing, filmmaking, curation, editing, mentoring, and, on occasion, acting. Her dance practice has taken her abroad, performing and touring internationally with companies and independent choreographers.
At the heart of her work is an ongoing exploration of embodiment. She holds an MA in Screendance from the London Contemporary Dance School (2022), and is interested in making films that challenges and slows our attention, and that invites empathy toward the bodies we witness on screen, as well as sensation within the bodies of those witnessing. She works independently and collaboratively with artists and communities to engage audiences in work that moves them through sensorial and imaginative experiences.
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.
Shay Dior is an incredible Vietnamese-Canadian drag gemini that embodies both King and Queen, fashion and cosplay, sexy and camp, and most of all, star power! Often referred to as the mother of Asian drag in Vancouver, Shay Dior has performed at countless venue spaces, not only locally, but also internationally. With the House of Rice, they have integrated their drag artistry and created several culturally impactful pieces and works in different disciplines such as theatre and digital media. Aside from starting one of the strongest drag houses in the city, Shay Dior also founded Ricecake Events, an event organization that creates safe spaces for the queer Asian community. With the legacy of building the city’s queer Asian community from the ground up, while leading a collective of inspirational and talented drag artists, there remains no question as to how instrumental Shay Dior’s dedication and accomplishments are.
