Current Collaborators
|
ACID X • 2020–present
Q&N Projects: Digital Cabarets; THE RINSE OFF! (Episode 1) ACID X exists at the liminal space where time spreads to infinity and anything is possible. They represent the multiplicity of energies that can be embodied in a single individual, changing their shape and form as they navigate through different dimensions of existence. Sensuality, the use of colour, a chameleonic identity, the possibility to bend reality and open portals to other dimensions are their super powers. Their objective is to remind everyone they can be whatever they want to be. Created by CINDY DZIB, Mexican multidisciplinary artist based in Toronto, ON. For more visit @acidlatina on Instagram. |
Afrikah • 2018–present
Founding Member Q&N Projects: A Lip Sync Spectacular; Sync or Swim; Digital Cabarets; THE RINSE OFF! (Episode 1) Afrikah is an emerging multidisciplinary theatre practitioner based out of Massachusetts, specializing in dramaturgy, management, and arts journalism. A recent graduate from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Afrikah holds their B.A. in Theater and a certificate in Multicultural Theater, which has influenced their work and collaboration in creating art that intersects community, identity, and education, and sparks dialogue. afrikahsmith.com |
Cake Blanchett • 2020–present
Q&N Projects: Digital Cabarets; THE RINSE OFF! (Episode 1) Cake is the process of stellar evolution! Cake is your dream come true! Cake is the love you have for yourself! Cake is the hate you have for yourself! Cake is who you become when you are alone in your room on a Saturday and your whole body is asking for something! anything! everything! Cake is the love child of superstardom and dying anonymously! Cake is the tender process of becoming and destroying the pedestals you’ve built! Cake is a perfect angel! Cake is of Elise Alexander, and Elise Alexander is a fool for you. |
|
Christina • 2018–present
Q&N Projects: Sync or Swim Christina is a costume designer and maker working in the greater New England area and she designed the costumes for Queer and Now: Sync or Swim. Christina has always been a story-teller and as a designer, she relishes the opportunity to get to know characters, to understand the life in them and to translate that visually for the audience. She loves the opportunity that Queer and Now presents to collaborate with performers on how they envision their characters/personas, and how they want the audience to see them. Christina believes theater/performance can be an instrument for social change, that we have the power to show the world for what it is and for what it could be. She believes in the power of showing beautiful, queer, feminist, anti-racist, inclusive, diverse, celebratory, glittery futures onstage. She believes in the responsibility that accompanies that possibility. christinabeamdesign.com |
|
Fig • 2017–present
Founding Member Q&N Projects: A Lip Sync Spectacular; Sync or Swim Finn is a non-binary halfway mark between a goddess and a goblin, who is fond of gender magic and queer futurism. They currently teach in the University of Massachusetts Department of Theater and serve as the Co-VP of Freelance for the Literary Managers of the Americas. They have several publications on trans and queer performance, applied theater, and devising. figlefevre.com |
|
Jessie Junk • 2017–present
Founding Member Q&N Projects: A Lip Sync Spectacular; Digital Cabarets; THE RINSE OFF! (Episode 1) "Get her one of everything on the menu. She's gonna be here a while." Jessie Junk didn't ask to be a diva with international appeal and a platinum best friends list. She was just born that way. The most glamorous slut-clown you'll ever meet, she has a penchant for performance and a ravenous appetite for jewels. Based in Slivington for the time being, she plans on moving to Miami with one of her surgeon boyfriends very soon! |
|
María Milagros • 2017–present
Associate Producer Q&N Projects: A Lip Sync Spectacular; Digital Cabarets; THE RINSE OFF! (Episode 1) The Boricua Thunder! A diva with curves like dulce de leche, María Milagros drinks a fresh cup of white tears every morning to clear her skin. An Afro-Indigenous-Boricua hailing from the City that Never Sleeps, she’s macheted her way to the top with a coqui song in her heart every step of the way. Milagros uses striptease to explore glamour, camp, gender, body image, race, and spirituality. Studying under Bella Sin, Milagros is a 2020 Cleveland Burlesque Academy student. Milagros is the burlesque character created by Brooklyn-based theater and performance artist Jordan Elizabeth Reed. |
|
Melissabeth • 2017–present
Producing Director Q&N Projects: A Lip Sync Spectacular; Sync or Swim; Digital Cabarets; THE RINSE OFF! (Episode 1) Melissabeth is a flirtatious hairy beary mermaid longing to return to her ocean home. While washed ashore, she channels this longing—like so many gay boys turned mermaids—into being a vessel for the divas of past, present, and future. Lovingly referred to as “the woman director” and “the bearded Barbra Streisand,” Melissabeth is here to dream big, tug at your heartstrings, and support her fellow queer babies. Melissabeth is the drag persona of theater and performance artist Garrett Sager (he/they)—she lets Garrett be naughty and nautical, embody the gay faggotry he used to squelch, and find beauty in the new feminine. ~ ~ ~ A.K.A. Sophie Dishwater: sewer fairy-turned-socialite. RATS! |
|
MerMx • 2017–present
Founding Member Q&N Projects: A Lip Sync Spectacular; Sync or Swim; Digital Cabarets; THE RINSE OFF! (Episode 1) MerMx is a multi-faceted pink monster that was dredged from the sea. They now survive on land and explore their gender and body through tranimal drag, camp, and obscure 80’s music. One day, they may return to the depths... |
|
Mx. NASTDEEE • 2020–present
Q&N Projects: Digital Cabarets; THE RINSE OFF! (Episode 1) Mx. NASTDEEE is a non-binary force to be reckoned with. Sent from an alternate timeline, Mx. NASTDEEE aims to push the status quo and align the balance of a world gone heteronormative-ly and patriarchical-ly wrong. An ingenious, chaotic, and natural enigma, they take the stage to f*ck sh*t up. You never know what kind of show you’ll get. They’re coming... |
|
Pamela Chowda • 2019–present
Q&N Projects: Sync or Swim; Digital Cabarets; THE RINSE OFF! (Episode 1) Pam for short, Chowda for dinner. She’s not from Boston, but she’s still a dumb slut. |
Scarlett Glitter • 2020–present
Q&N Projects: Digital Cabarets; THE RINSE OFF! (Episode 1) Scarlett Glitter (Tristan Cameron), they/them, is an interdisciplinary one-woman spectacular. Who loves writing confessional art, sharing playlists, and creating immersive experiences through the realms of memory and healing. In her spare time you can find Scarlett lounging in the many quilts on her bed or singing at the top of her lungs to any cover song done by Mariah Carey (because they are better when MC covers it). Most importantly, she is excited for the future community based art that will happen within her lifetime, so get ready! |
|
Stella Luna • 2020–present
Q&N Projects: Digital Cabarets; THE RINSE OFF! (Episode 1) Stella Luna is an ethereal bisexual starchild who finds solace in community, creativity, and the cosmos. Stella lives and breathes creation; she believes art to be a healing lifeforce, and is eager to shine her light through the universe. She sees love as our most abundant natural resource, its power transcending time and space. Her alter ego, Zaddi WhörebuXXX, embodies the divine duality of her “masculine” and “feminine” energies, her oozing sexuality a tool of radical protest against the patriarchy. Stella’s drag utilizes spirituality, satire, and archetypal gesture to attain a heightened perception that may lead us all to a more just existence. She is ruled by the moon, her purpose on this earthly plane to foster love, authenticity, and compassion alongside her fellow souls. Stella Luna is a lover of all beings; her eternal mission is to harness beauty in all its forms, and to spread it through the galaxies with gusto. |
Thea • 2018–present
Q&N Projects: Sync or Swim; Digital Cabarets Thea is a wandering soul that found a home with Queer & Now. Having recently graduated with degrees in theater and anthropology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Thea is dedicated to the art of storytelling and aims to magnify the voices of others so their stories can be heard. |
Former Collaborators
Special thanks to the people and organizations who have supported our work: Melissa Smith, Logan Miles, Allison Chen, Aidan Gerard, Megan Lewis, UMass Arts Council, UMass Department of Theater, Marlow Bull, Julie Nelson, Harley Erdman, Willow Cohen, friends, family, and community.