Oraculum
December 1 – 15, 2024
A Buddies in Bad Times and Denim + Pythia co-production
Get a glimpse into the enigmatic imaginations of two of Canada’s premier drag artists. Denim and Pythia take you on a journey of self discovery and divine mystery, as filtered through the crystal ball (or computer screen) of an online psychic reading website. Combining performance, puppetry, and projection into an otherworldly spectacle, Oraculum pulls back the velvet curtain on gender and spirituality.
photography and treatment by Fran Chudnoff
Denim and Pythia // creators
Oraculum is part of Buddies’ Queer Voices Canada Series, presented with the support of the Department of Canadian Heritage.
Sunday, December 1 // 7:30PM (preview)
Tuesday, December 3 // 7:30PM (preview)
Thursday, December 5 // 7:30PM (opening night)
Friday, December 6 // 7:30PM
Saturday, December 7 // 2PM (mask mandatory performance) + 7:30PM
Tuesday, December 10 // 7:30PM (mask mandatory performance)
Wednesday, December 11 // 7:30PM
Thursday, December 12 // 7:30PM
Friday, December 13 // 7:30PM
Saturday, December 14 // 2PM + 7:30PM
Emerson Sanderson is a transgender autistic multi-disciplinary artist based in Montreal, QC. His practice mainly exists through video, textile, drag performance, photography, electronic and cyber arts, exploring themes of identity, toxic positivity, harm reduction, the act of surveillance and the cis gaze. Through persona and digital environments Emerson creates realities that allow him to have agency over his body. The aspects of costume, character development, satire and digital landscaping come together in his practice to create safe containers for queer and transgressive characters and ideas to exist. Emerson channels the majority of his artistic practice through a drag persona known as Denim, who was created as a representation of the hyper-feminine persona he used as a safety blanket before having access to medical transition. This process of experimental drag grants him the ability to create something physical and tangible from constructed, illusionary, and imposed gender and neurotypical stereotypes. Denim acts as a vehicle in which Emerson can perform identity fluidly and as ever changing.
Christos Darlasis is a first-generation Greek-Canadian costume and makeup designer as well as graphic artist and revered drag queen. His work spans in the forms of theatre, film, circus, photography and even drag performance, with his notable appearance on Canada’s Drag Race season 2, under the stage name of Pythia. His work reflects his keen sense of imagination and storytelling, whimsical style and obsession of capturing the arcane worlds of color, shape, texture and pattern and deciphering the ways we can amalgamate their fantasy and magic, into physical works of art. Christos has earned a diploma and graduated the Costume and Set Design program at the National Theatre School of Canada (2019) in Montreal, QC. He now works as a freelance artist mainly as a drag entertainer and content creator, with contracts ranging from costume design and styling for theatre, film, fashion, as well as photography and graphic design for both professional and independent artists, and companies. The characters, stories and visuals that unfold in his work, are a result of years of hard work and passion, culminating in whimsical and fantastic experiences, whether in a set, studio, or every time he sets his heels on stage!
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Dates & Times
Previews
December 1 + 3 7:30PM
Show Run
December 1 – 15
Tue – Fri 7:30PM
Sat 2PM + 7:30PM
