Kelindah has been performing as Drag Persona, Theydy Bedbug since 2016. They are the current reigning “Mx. Brooklyn 2019,” “the bug bite you beg for,” and the “dad joke of drag.” Their art is a collage of campy drag, grotesque burlesque and narrative poetry to reclaim their body, queer audiences, and reckon with belonging.
In the past few years, they have presented work at The Signature Theatre, Lehman College, SVA, Barnard College, Triskelion Arts, Gibney Dance, The Knockdown Center, The Stone Church, The Kraine Theater, House of Yes, BAX, The Stonewall Inn, The Brick, The Flea, The Tank, Pioneer Works, Google NY, FIT, VICE Headquarters, UCB, BAM Fisher, The Hangar Theater, Chelsea Music Hall, National Sawdust, Coney Island Sideshows by the Seashore, JACK among countless other venues in New York and beyond.
Their performances combine spoken word poetry, lip sync, narrative storytelling, authentic movement, character work, costume, makeup, puppetry, and audience interaction in order to playfully ask the piercing questions: Who can we be if we approach our inherited roles as options rather than proscriptions? They believe that when we connect and create art that channels our authentic expression liberated from gender norms, we make space for more ways of being.
Since 2016, Theydy has presented work in NYC at Pioneer Works, Gibney Dance, Dixon Place, Triskelion Arts, Coney Island USA, The Stonewall Inn, UCB, Chelsea Music Hall, The Tank, BAM, House of Yes, VICE Headquarters, Columbia University, National Sawdust, 3 Dollar Bill, FIT, BAX, and Bushwig at The Knockdown Center, among others.