It's Queer Narratives Festival year 5 and we're moving to the Crossroads! That's not the only thing that's changed- the entire festival is now PAY WHAT YOU CAN!
When:
Main Festival
August 2 and 3, 2024
All Events:
June 17-August 1
Where:
Main Festival
2016 Main Event Space
2016 Main St,
Kansas City, MO 64108
FRIDAY, AUG. 2ND
Hosted by Makayla Scott
RiTZ
RiTZ is a Peruvian producer and DJ based in Kansas City. A passionate life-long musician, RiTZ is a community advocate dedicated to mental health, growth and inclusivity. Known for blasting house music, RiTZ highlights Latin and Afro instrumentation and rhythms.
Syren Screams
Syren Screams is an alternative KCMO Drag King who plays with gender roles through makeup, costume, and choreography.
Kyle Jones & James Taylor (JT)
Kyle Jones (he/him) is an educator, saxophonist, and arts administrator currently residing in the Kansas City Metro area. As an active soloist and chamber musician, he has performed recitals throughout the United States in a variety of mediums and genres. He has performed as a soloist with numerous ensembles, including The University of Texas Symphony Orchestra, the Northwest Missouri State University Wind Symphony, and the University of Central Missouri Wind Ensemble.
Kyle and JT will be performing "Something about a brick." The piece was commissioned by Charlotte Street Foundation last year and premiered in May of 2023. The piece is a joyful celebration of queer culture, particularly drag performances and the importance of the Transgender community in advocating for Queer liberation.
Liney Blu
Kansas City singer songwriter Liney Blu writes from a unique place of personal experience and identity. They vividly show us how vulnerability is strength and require us to see love, frustration, disappointment and humor through lenses we may not have considered. Every song finds Liney passionately and sometimes bravely exploring a broader, more inclusive understanding of the human experience while letting us into some sacred personal spaces to do so. And while many listeners are just finding Liney Blu, they set out on their path as a songwriter and artist as a teenager.
At age 17 as Caroline Blubaugh she released a first EP titled "Green" which featured the single "San Francisco” that quickly saw 185K Spotify streams. In 2023 as Liney Blu, came a 2nd EP, "Pennsylvania St." with bandmates bassist Renee Huey and drummer Jones Goldman. “Pennsylvania St.” is an introspective, sometimes raw, indie pop rock/folk synthesis built on innovative arrangements relentlessly pushed along by Liney’s deep, resonant vocal, subtly insistent delivery and very personal passion.
New music building on the release of “Pennsylvania St.” is in the works. Liney Blu can be heard in venues around the Kansas City/Lawrence area with an expanded show schedule planned for 2024.
hART thROB
Robyn "hART thROB" Jordan is an interdisciplinary creative entrepreneur, experience producer, and St. Louis native who has resided in Northwest Arkansas since 2011. As a lover of creativity and connectivity, she has 20+ years of experience on and off the stage in live music, art, and entertainment. Heavily influenced by Southern Hip-Hop, Motown artists, and the creative resilience of the African Diaspora, hART thROB enjoys playing timeless and worldwide music that moves the soul.
Southern Hxll
Welcoming to the stage Southern Hell! Southern is a drag king from the south, making his way through the Midwest. The majority of his background is in choreography and stunting. Before moving out to Kansas City, he was a choreographer in Atlanta. He studied the drag scene for years before entering and is inspired by his favorite local drag artists. He creates his own numbers from his passion for dance and love for entertainment. Catch him at Body Euphoria, an all trans show at Woodys, or come to a Sunshine Saturday show at Missies and see him set fire to the stage!
Monsterboy LIVES
Monsterboy LIVES, The love story of non-binary rocker meets classical girl, using old and odd instrumentation with modern elements. Antique saxophones, soulful vocals, vintage keys meet electronic beats, world percussion, and found sound samples. In a world still clinging to the binary, this couple celebrates the space in between.
SATURDAY, AUG. 3RD
Dr. Violet Dream
Dr. Violet Dream is a Kansas City native whose passion for music has transcended borders and entertained audiences across the United States for over 15 years. With fun-loving energy, selection versatility, and a knack for delivering funky sounds, she is a sought-after DJ in the area and specializes in boutique events.
Guanders Larue
Isaac Reyes is a queer artist working mostly in Houston TX. Reyes graduated with a BFA in sculpture from the University of Houston. Reyes has been bringing his kinetic installations and performing as Guanders (wonders) Larue. Mixing the art of drag and his background in sculpture.
Nina Cherry
Nina Cherry is a Kansas City-based writer and musician. In her role as a writer, Nina specializes in arts coverage and historical features, with a particular focus on researching often-overlooked women in Kansas City’s rich jazz history. In both her writing and music, Nina aims to place meaningful, diverse stories in the spotlight.
As a versatile percussionist, vocalist and songwriter, Nina enjoys playing an array of genres, from jazz to soul and beyond. With a bachelors degree in Music Theory from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory, Cherry currently teaches voice, percussion and piano at Base Academy of Music and accompanies for the Kansas City Ballet.
Currently, Nina is immersed in writing and arranging original music for an upcoming debut EP.
Olivia Emert
Olivia Emert (she/her) is an independent choreographer and Charlotte Street Studio Resident based out of Kansas City, Missouri. Emert graduated with her Bachelors of Fine Arts from UMKC. Emert dances, creates, and teaches in different spaces such as Kansas City Ballet, City in Motion, NoDivide, Charlotte Street Foundation, KCPublic Theater, Creative Intersections, Geometry Dance Company (Los Angeles, CA) and her own produced works. Notably, she created WOMB.DIRT.SKY. an evening length work with Making Moves. Recently, Emert’s pieces “LEECHES” and “Intangible…” were commissioned for Creative Intersections founded by Cameron Thomas, supported by Kansas City Ballet and Owen Cox Dance Group. In December 2023, she self produced and choreographed VESSEL: an evening-length work centered around awareness of mental health and intentional conversations with our bodies. Our bodies are vessels. Emert’s work currently dives into research of relationships, emotional intellect, and creating different tangible environments.
John Elizabeth Stintzi
John Elizabeth Stintzi (JES, they/she) is an award-winning novelist, poet, cartoonist, photographer, and editor who was born and raised on a cattle farm in northwestern Ontario. Their work has received support from the Canada Council for the Arts, The Watermill Center, and Queens University, and they have been awarded the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers from the Writers’ Trust of Canada and the inaugural Sator New Works award from Two Dollar Radio. Their novel Vanishing Monuments was shortlisted for the Amazon Canada First Novel Award, Junebat was shortlisted for the Raymond Souster award from the League of Canadian Poets, and My Volcano was longlisted for the Brooklyn Public Library’s 2022 Book Prize for Fiction. Their books have been (or are currently being) translated into Korean, Italian, and Spanish.
Courtney Farr
Courtney Farr is a queer person (they/them) from Lawrence, Kan. They serve on the board of the local LGBTQ+ non-profit Lawrence Pride that organizes the annual parade and festival in Lawrence, Kan as well as regular events throughout the year. They are a poet and stage story teller, crafting stories about their life for multiple venues and events in eastern Kansas. They host Queer Voices, a seasonal storytelling evening featuring all LGBTQ+ speakers. They have a shockingly large collection of shirts with cats on them.
Frances Sedayao & Óscar Trujillo
Frances Teves Sedayao (they/siya/she) is a multidisciplinary artist and performer who was a SF Apature Featured Artist, Art resident of New York OMI International, Serpent Source Grantee, and recipient of the distinguished Jefferson Awards. Currently, Frances is in collaboration with Sarah Bush Dance, San San Kwan, Moon Rope + Crescent Moon Theater Productions & Megan Lowe.
Óscar Trujillo is a creator and performer devising making work in Kansas City, MO, and with DAP in the San Francisco Bay Area. Currently a Charlotte Street Foundation resident, Óscar is also an embodiment practitioner. Performance credits include Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, Joe Goode Performance Group, Robert Moses Kin, Organic Magnetics and more.
Frances and Óscar are long time friends and collaborators in various artistic iterations for the last 20 yrs. This year marks a creative reunion between the two.
U-Hollers
The U-Hollers are an all queer improv group based in Kansas City, MO!
Rey Markable
Rey Markable is a tall, sassy energetic diva from KC. I’ve been doing drag since Covid and you can catch me everywhere around the city. Whenever you come to a Rey show your good feel so happy. I like to do some comedy numbers, ballets and of course dance numbers. Especially Beyoncé. Drag is my passion and it shows. I’m also about of a drag girl group called n’3D as well.
altoscliff
altoscliff is a queer performer-theater-maker, writer, and experimental violist making ambient, dreamy and nightmarish sounds using an electric violin, pedals, and vocals. Witnesses have used the word "haunting" multiple times. They have performed at Mazzy's Darkwater Inn (The Ship) and with Sass-a-Brass (The Emerald, Blip Roasters). You may just find them playing in the woods somewhere.