THE NELKEN LINE
CAST + CREW
Mizz Ellemenohpee Q. Aresteeyuvee
El Beh is a theatre artist, performer, musician, singer, composer, mover, shaker and educator with a penchant for ensemble devised theatre and stinky cheese. They are a co-host of Drag Spectacular Spectacular and a proud company member of Shotgun Players, Mugwumpin and detour dance. Her cello playing has been heard nationally with such folks as Taylor Mac, The Bengsons, and the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony and they were named one of KQED’s 2017 Bay Brilliant Artists to Watch. They also really like to laugh and touch so tell her a joke sometime while cuddling the crap outta them.
Elizabeth Castaneda
Elizabeth began dancing at the age of 3 and choreographing around the age of eight. She has been teaching a choreographing in the Bay Area for 15 years and has produced a large scale dance circus theatre performance for the Burning Man festival for the last 6 years. Elizabeth is one of the co-founders of Sister Magic Productions based in the bay area whom create spectacular full length dance theatre performances!
Melissa Castaneda
Melissa is a well rounded dancer with a background in ballet, modern, jazz, musical theater and more. She makes her living as a costume/clothing designer In the Bay Area! She is an identical twin and co-produced shows with Elizabeth at burning man for several years.
Glamputee
Alex is a queer, biracial Glamputee, proudly offering you a...leg up on disability justice. Whether as a counselor, harm reductionist, pleasure activist, runway model, or film festival juror, Alex is serving up the 5 C’s (Curls, Crutches, Claws, Courage, and Compassion), while singing the praises of the disability justice movement any chance he can get. Alex has set out to use his platform to center the voices of Black and brown, queer disabled folx while weaving together the principles of this movement with other justice efforts to promote access, sustainability and wholeness in all of our collective liberation work.
Gold
A bay area native, returned to her stomping grounds by way of Los Angeles, DC, and the northeast. Gold is a sometimes performer, musician, and artist, and a full-time midwife. Deliver this, baby.
Natalie Greene
Natalie Greene is a multi-disciplinary performing artist and the artistic director of the performance ensemble Mugwumpin. She teaches in the Department of Performing Arts & Social Justice at the University of San Francisco, choreographs for theater productions large and small, and works as a pedagogy consultant internationally.
Major Hammy
Major Hammy is a vibrant, dance based drag King based in San Francisco. His goal is to be the life of the party and bring the joy and love he experiences through dance to others, and hopefully inspire audience members to move and groove as well!
JanpiStar
JanpiStar was born and raised in Puerto Rico. In the Island they performed with different puerto rican artists doing Theater plays , dance performances and teaching workshops. JanpiStar moved to Oakland in January 2018 to join AXIS Dance Company and had the opportunity to work with local Artist Robert Dekkers, International artist Arthur Pita and New York based choreographer Jennifer Archibald. Their most recent work was for QDF Online on September 2020.
Buka Kay!
BUKA KAY! started her drag career in 2007 by entering her first pageant and winning the title of Ms. GAPA (Gay Asian Pacific Alliance). She is a proud member of the Rice Rockettes, the premier Asian Pacific Islander drag troupe in the SF Bay Area, and Clutch The Pearls, queering up the Mission District and creating a safe space to celebrate all types of authentic selves.
KRIMM
KRIMM, Kim Ip, comes by way of Wellington, NZ, Cupertino, Hawai'i and back to the Bay. Hatched from Mills College into the San Francisco Bay Area, she has had the privilege of producing work since 2014 at Shawl-Anderson, Gray Area, B4BEL4B Gallery, SAFEhouee Arts, and CounterPulse. She is a proud Asian Queer Femme that is inspired by pop culture aesthetics and community building through art practice. Currently she is creating a dance about Britney Spears #FREEBRITNEY
Ana Leash
Ana Leash's burlesque performances often take the form of social commentary or personal commentary. Ana Leash acts as the outlet to all the places as a queer women of color I feel perpetually kept on a leash in our society.
Deuce Lee / Melissa Lewis
Deuce Lee is a drag king and performance artist — queering the traditional Chinese Opera face and exploring their mixed diaspora, through the lens of Bruce Lee's legacy, masculinity and artistry. Deuce enjoys and practices highly physical movement, Asian American activism, martial arts, and Chinese props.
Jota Mercury
Based out of Oakland, CA- Jota Mercury is a LatinX and indigenous drag king who has been putting the cheese in Machismo since 2016. He's won awards internationally for both drag and burlesque. He is also one part of the drag king troupe Rebel Kings of Oakland
Mira
Mira- aka Kevin Lopez, is excited to be working with Detour Dance for the third time. They have danced, taught, and choreographed in the Bay Area for 6 years; they also cohost and coproduce Clutch The Pearls, a monthly drag cabaret in the mission. They miss hugs.
Wiley Naman Strasser
Wiley Naman Strasser is a Detour Company Artist, actor, dancer, and musician. Recent credits include work with Hope Mohr Dance, SF Playhouse, Magic Theatre, and Shotgun Players. He received his degree in theater from UCLA and has also studied with Teatr Zar and Teatro Yuyachkani, among others.
Rahni NothingMore.
Rahni NothingMore. has performed for 20 years winning several competitions in the Bay Area including Trannyshack Star Search 2009, Stoli's Dancing With the Drag Stars and Miss gay Northern California.
Bhumi B Patel
Bhumi B Patel is a queer, desi artist/activist who creates intersectionally feminist performances from a trauma informed, social justice-oriented perspective. Patel uses dance as a pursuit for liberation and decolonization. She creates movement outside of white models of dance but wants you to know that some of her best friends are white.
pretty plz
pretty plz (he/she/they) is a trans performance artist livin in sf. they play with the intersection of sensuality, humor, queerness, & dance. she loves to collaborate & strengthen community through art.
Leigh Rondon-Davis
Leigh Rondon-Davis is a Bay Area-based performer, dramaturg, director, and visual artist. Leigh has worked for many local theaters including Aurora Theatre, Curran, Playwrights Foundation, Magic Theatre, and West Edge Opera. They are a Resident Artist at Crowded Fire and a Company Member with Shotgun Players and Oakland Theater Project.
Trixie Salope
Having recently graduated with a BA in Performing Arts and Social Justice (Dance) from the University of San Francisco, Trixie has been exploring the variety of her passions, skills, and even herself over the last couple years. She loves creating and working in projects that address society issues, like LGBTQ+ liberation, but feels just as comfortable jumping on stage for a campy number or full on comedy!
Black Betty Towers
Bettys a mixed media artist focusing on drag and fashion. Woeful patterns, stark silhouettes, and an energy that leaves you gagging is her goal. I dare ya, take a bite
Grace Towers
Grace Towers strives to make a deep impact on the life of the city by carving out queer spaces and nurturing the queerdos who frequent them. She has Graced the city with her signature sabor latino, innumerable commanding performances, generous philanthropic endeavors, transformative mentorship programs, and legendary genderfuck style. Through her unwavering commitment to community, she encourages self-acceptance, creative expression, body positivity, and the use of DRAG as as a portal for change—all with effortless Grace, style, and poise.
Paige Turner
Paige Turner is San Francisco’s triple-threat. She plays the keys. She sings. She dances. And she does it all in a sultry, sexy lady of the night.
VERA
VERA is an Armenian American drag king, dancer, and activist. They are a member of Rebel Kings of Oakland and SWANA Kings (South West Asian North African drag kings). They taught dance at Berkeley YMCA, and are a Development Officer for Covenant House California and LGBT National Hotline Lead Trainer.
Hennessy Williams
Hennessy Williams is a genderqueer drag performer based in Oakland. They love doing genderfuck performances and paying homage to their Chinese heritage with drag. They are also the 2020 reigning Mx. Quing Pageant winner.
Rihanna Wintour
Rihanna Wintour is a San Francisco based drag queen active since 2018. Known for her energetic dance performances, her work highlights the contributions of Black music artists in the 1990s, 2000s to the present day. Ish Fofana is the performer and creative director behind the drag queen and has trained in modern, jazz and hip hop dance.
crew
Kat Cole
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT / Kat Cole is a Bay-Area based artist who invokes subtlety and spectacle through film, live performance and drag. Her works explore estrangement and belonging, often drawing from her experiences as a Queer woman and a second-generation, mixed race Filipino-American. She co-directs the Izzie-nominated performance company, detour dance, and is a co-founder/producer of the Black X Film Festival. Her Queer coming-of-age film was awarded Best Bay Area Director from the Coven Film Festival. She moonlights as her drag persona, Sir Acha. katreneecole.com
Lourdes Figueroa
2ND ASSISTANT CAMERA / Lourdes Figueroa is poet. She is the author of the chapbooks yolotl, and Ruidos = To Learn Speak, which is completed during her Alley Cat Books Residency. She received her MFA in Creative Writing with an emphasis in Poetry at the University of San Francisco. She works and lives in San Francisco with her wife, filmmaker, Peggy Peralta. She is a native of limbo nation. Lourdes believes in your lung, and your throat.
Eric Garcia
DIRECTOR & EDITOR / Eric Garcia (aka Churro Nomi) is a San Francisco-based dance, film, and drag artist. Eric is the Co-Director of Detour Dance and proudly works with Fresh Meat Productions and SF Transgender Film Festival. Churro hosts two tragically brilliant vaudevillian cabarets: Clutch The Pearls at Make Out Room and Drag Spectacular Spectacular at The Rite Spot.
Jana Griffin
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT / Jana Griffin is a dance artist and educator from Fresno, CA. She holds a BA in Dance from San Francisco State University. She has been dancing, collaborating, and having the time of her life with Detour Dance since 2013. She currently works full time as a dance educator at The Hamlin School in San Francisco.
Luke Lasley
1ST ASSISTANT CAMERA / Luke work on films, documentaries, commercials, and TV shows as a 1st AC (Focus Puller).
Del Medoff
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT / Delayne Medoff has been a lighting artist in the Bay Area for over 10 years. He has designed lights in many places and for many groups, including Christy Funsch, Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, The Town Hall Theatre, and FACT/SF. Through this COVID time, Del is finding new ways to collaborate and create art, and is overjoyed to be working again with his detour dance family.
Peggy Peralta
CINEMATOGRAPHER / Peggy Peralta is a cinematographer and steadicam operator. She is a unicorn who flies around with cameras capturing magical moments for everyone to enjoy. She makes it a point to infuse every project she touches with passion y mucho mucho amor. Originally from the Philippines, she now lives and works in San Francisco with wife Lourdes Figueroa, a poet. They are happily adjusting to their new role as OWLs - older wiser lesbians.
Karla Quintero
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT / Karla Quintero is dancer and dance-maker originally from New York City, currently living in Oakland. Karla is currently working on a dance film inspired by two of her favorite horror films that will premiere as part of the Merde Project in February 2021. Outside of the studio she works as a freelance graphic designer and is the co-director HMD's equity-driven curatorial platform, the Bridge Project. karlajohannaquintero.tumblr.com