“I felt invigorated and very gay” – anonymous audience member at UMass
“Moving and beautiful. Genuinely one of the best pieces if not the best piece of theater I have seen since I started at UMass. I felt beautiful in that space and I have felt really beautiful since I left that space. I really feel like I left a piece of myself there and also took a piece of your show with me. I am so thoroughly impressed with your work and with all of the artists involved. I still feel like I can’t articulate myself. It was moving, it was beautiful, and it was fun. I’m honored I got to bear witness to something like this. Seriously. Thank you so much.” – anonymous audience member at UMass “Over the past 3 years I have absolutely loved going to see the different themes of Queer & Now. My friends and I still gush over this event and performances from years past. I am consistently stunned by the production, effort, costumes, performance, and excellency of the show. This has literally been the best event I have ever been to on campus and it seems every year it just gets better. The theme of Sync of Swim was so impactful and relevant to modern culture and this in conjunction with the beauty of the performance was breathtaking.” – Emily Czazasty, audience member at UMass “Unique and unlike any other piece of theater I’ve ever witnessed in my life. The show effortlessly combined drag and theater culture into an amazing and conscious piece!! Can’t wait for more” – MarHadoo Jones, audience member at UMass “It filled me with joy and pride to see your beautiful, fun, sophisticated work. Thank you for your generosity and talent!” – Professor Harley Erdman, thesis committee chair and audience member at UMass “I think that QUEER & NOW: Sync or Swim was a fantastic and innovative aspect of theater! It brought together incredibly important themes that celebrated diversity, gender, sexuality, and more! I loved the message and way the show made me feel - happy, seen, connected, etc. From A Lip Sync Spectacular to Sync or Swim, this project has created a beautiful movement for queer representation and celebration. I can't wait to see what you do next :)” – Fiona McCann, audience member at UMass “Fabulous, sexy, inspiring…I remember being awed at the amount of work that went into it, and impressed with the dedication of the cast, crew, and director into putting something bizarre and fabulous on for the campus community. It also made me think about gender fluidity and representation and how gender fluidity comes to be embodied and materialized through dress, gait, movement, gesture, etc.” –Joshua Barsczewski, audience member at UMass “I felt empowered, excited, and really just ready to have a great rest of my night.” – anonymous audience member at UMass “Fun! The audience loved it. Everyone had a good performance, and the costumes were amazing. It was evident that the cast and crew put a lot of thought and hard work into the show. The cast was so in sync with each other. Bravo!” – Diane Sager, audience member at UMass “Amazing! Fortunate to witness the progression, digestion and stages of this piece. It is radical, celebratory, and real. Thank you for creating a piece that is thought provoking and fucking fantastically entertaining.” – anonymous audience member at both iterations of Sync or Swim “Artful, passionate, delightful” – Anita M. Bobersky, audience member at NYPOP |
“What does the future look like? The fierce and fabulous cast & crew of Queer & Now: Sync or Swim offer us a gorgeously designed, fluid, watery, wonderful array of options, drawing on ancient myths. The future is female. It smashes patriarchy with huge big scissors. It’s fierce AF. It’s Queer. Trans. Transforming. Transcendent. The future celebrates bodies of all shapes and modes and textures. The future moves like these stunning students do, like rivers and oceans do, like fluid identities do. It celebrates the gloriousness of difference, embracing it as a given not a point of contention. The future is aqua blue gauze, shiny golden crowns, witchy black feathers, sparkling gilded beards. It is feathers and leather and spandex and down with pigs and up with goddesses. It is in tune with the natural world. It is a beautiful and life-affirming dance party. It holds multiple truths. It’s queer. It’s now. It’s exquisite.” – Professor Megan Lewis, thesis committee member and audience member at both iterations of Sync or Swim “Beautiful concept, amazing costumes and lighting, fierce attitudes.” – anonymous audience member at NYPOP “I loved seeing everyone feel so empowered and comfortable in their own bodies and that they felt they could share that with the audience. That was very special…Thank you to the actors for being comfortable and vulnerable with the audience in order to put on this show. I feel empowered when I see people in my community able to openly express themselves in all walks of life.” – Julia Bergh, audience member at UMass “I was very grateful as a queer man that there was space for this” – anonymous audience member at UMass “Good production – great costumes/makeup – great energy” – Kim Levinson, audience member at both iterations of Sync or Swim “The show was funny, engaging, and beautifully presented, but honestly queer wasn't my first thought. It felt very current, and highly feminist, but the vignettes seemed to be a lot of women gaining power over men, or gaining status in relationships with men. A lot of penis power destroyed by women. I didn't see much queer interaction between characters, or queer relationships of any sort being exposed the way hetero relationships were. Drag is, of course, a queer art form but that alone didn't project the energy I was expecting from something called “queer and now.” It was more “fuck men” than anything else.” – Lydia Utter, audience member at NYPOP “Beautiful, creative, fantastic…I hope this show runs forever! It’s so refreshing and affirming to be in queer normative spaces.” – Nancy, audience member at UMass “Futuristic, otherworldly, and intense…an incredible piece of artwork. I'm excited to see what the artists do next. Thank you so much for this piece of art you have poured your soul into. Your work is so so important.” – Gabi, audience member at UMass “Fun, irreverent, thought-provoking, in your face, dance party. It represented rebellion, and the exploration of a queer fantasy world/future. I would love to see the connection to the myths pushed further, and the idea of connecting how society treats femininity spills into how it treats “mother earth” pushed further.” – Jordan Reed, audience member at both iterations of Sync or Swim |
“Inventive. Colorful. Playful.” – anonymous audience member at UMass
“Every year the group of people that I have gone to this performance with has grown because when I tell people about the experience that Queer & Now is everyone wants to go. I love the setting of the stage and how the audience is surrounding the performance but I also would love to have more people at UMass attending this event. Everyone needs to see this. This performance has never felt like a play or just another show at the FAC, it truly feels like a unique experience. This past year I brought my boyfriend and his friend to the show and one of my friends brought her boyfriend as well. They would probably never go to a drag event on their own but they absolutely LOVED this and were hoping it was a once a month kind of thing. I am so thankful for this production and it is truly an eye-opening, perspective-changing experience. Thank you so much for sharing your incredible talents with us!” – Emily Czazasty, audience member at UMass |
“Very entertaining, outstanding choreography, make up, hair and costume. Wished it was a bigger theater so more people could have watched it.” – anonymous audience member at UMass “It was delightful! A great mix of pieces, movement and performance. There were laughs, there were poignant statements and there was just beautiful, free expression. I was super impressed with the performers and producers. I felt the happiness and excitement that was on stage which was contagious.” – Zach Gelfand, audience member at NYPOP |