Hollow Eve's Rebirth at Omni Commons - Photo by Devlin Shand (2024)
Oaklash ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE
Elevating Emerging Queer and Trans Artists and Performers
As part of Oaklash's Residency Program, queer and trans artists working in nightlife are given the financial and administrative resources to bring their creative work into large scale presentations at theaters and venues throughout the Bay Area. Working to elevate the careers of these emerging artists is part of Oaklash’s commitment to offering ongoing guidance and one-on-one mentorship to members of our artistic community who often do not have access to these kinds of funding opportunities.
Glamputee by Tom Zimberoff (2024)
Glamputee
@glamputee
Alex Locust is a drag performer, public speaker, and culture worker. “Glamputee'' is a flamboyant persona that they use to celebrate their identity and to shape culture in the Bay Area and beyond. Their work is a love letter to expansive queerness, Black excellence, and crip magic.
Through Oaklash's residency program, Glamputee is developing:
An immersive performance featuring an ensemble of five Black, queer, trans, and disabled performers that celebrates the beauty of accessible art through Drag performance. Paying homage to Pee Wee's Playhouse and The Muppet Show, this performance utilizes absurd humor and educational play to engage audiences in the co-development of accessible and creative space. The performance will showcase performances by Glamputee, Mudd the Two Spirit, Major Hammy, BARRACUDA, and Cheetah Biscotti
Glamputee's LEG-acy Ball is made possible with support from The Zellerbach Family Foundation's Community Arts Grant, Tao Rising's Changemaker Culture Keeper's Grant, and the SPM Disability Fund.
OBSIDIENNE
OBSURD
@ob.world
OBSIDIENNE OBSURD is a Chinese-American genderless drag performance artist making and working in the Bay Area. OBSIDIENNE frequently moonlights as her human counterpart, 明聖 Ezra Costanza, who is an award-winning classical violist freelancing all across California.
Through Oaklash's residency program, OBSIDIENNE is developing:
THE LAST 7 DAYS OF OBSIDIENNE OBSURD
A multidisciplinary experimental performance that aims to queer classical concert conventions as well as elevate Drag performance out of the realm of nightlife and onto a large-scale symphonic stage. This new work includes original compositions developed in collaboration with cellist and composer Paul Wiancko of the Kronos Quartet. It tells OBSIDIENNE's personal story of gender transition alongside the migration story of their Chinese ancestors to America.
SAVE THE DATE: Friday July 11th + Saturday July 12th, 2025
@ The Chan National Queer Arts Center
SAVE THE DATE: Friday December 5th, 2025
@ The Calvin Simmons Theater
The Last 7 Days of OBSIDIENNE OBSURD is made possible with support from The Gerbode Foundation's Special Award in the Arts for Music
OBSIDIENNE OBSURD
by Vita Hewitt (2023)
Evian by Dominic Saveedra (2024)
EVIAN
@evian.xo
Evan Favela aka Evian is renowned for producing large scale design and installation works for local performances and venues throughout the Bay Area, most notable for their work at Oasis nightclub in San Francisco.
Through Oaklash's residency program, Evian is developing:
ALL THE WORLD'S A FAIR
A monument to queer and trans creative expression in the Bay Area developed under the mentorship of Marcel Pardo Ariza. This new landmark for queer art and performance in downtown Oakland will be unveiled and activated in the leading up to Oaklash’s tenth anniversary of creating public queer art through its annual Drag and queer performance festival.
All The World's A Fair is made possible with support from The Rainin Foundation's Open Spaces Development Grant