About the Artists

Ambrose Trataris aka Cy Berspace  is a trans conceptual artist, technologist, and Drag performer based in the Bay Area. Through sculpture, installation, and performance he gives form to semiotic and social boundaries meant to govern our identity, sense of worth, and communal relations. His practice explores social movements occurring in Virtual Reality and mixed reality mediums as a safe space for transgender people to explore identity, embodiment, and community building.   Trataris recently joined the 2026 Onassis ONX Fellowship cohort based in New York and Greece. He is the recipient of the inaugural 2025 Art Basel Awards celebrating 36 visionary Medalists who are redefining the contemporary art landscape. Trataris is an Artist Advisor to the San Francisco Arts Commission in collaboration with Gray Area as part of the Shaping Legacy: San Francisco Monuments & Memorials program funded by the Mellon Foundation. They are an artist in residence at the 2025 Space Program, 2024 Dresher Ensemble Artist Residency (D.E.A.R.), and 2023 CounterPulse Combustible Artist in Residence. They are the recipient of the 2024 Kenneth Rainin Foundation New & Experimental Works Program, 2024 MAP Fund, and 2019 YBCA 100 Award. 

VERA! is an Armenian-American nonbinary drag king, dancer, activist, and performing artist. They are the co-host of SAVE HER! and the Rebel Kings of Oakland; member of SWANA Kings; and board member of Oaklash, the Bay Area Drag Festival. VERA! was the 2022 Counterpulse Performing Diaspora Resident and 2019 SF Playground SoloFest Performer. They performed at the Austin International Drag Festival as a Featured Artist in 2023 and 2024. VERA! was the lead producer, host, and artist of Hye There, an Armenian artistic showcase hosted at St. Joseph's Arts Society in 2026.

Skirt Cocaine is a mixed Filipino drag king and show producer in LA's queer punk scene. With an aesthetic ranging from Kpop to rococo, he explores the wide range of masculinity and identity outside the bounds of toxic whiteness. He is also a videographer and content creator for a number of drag shows in LA. 

Mudd the Two Spirit is a BiPoc Deaf/HoH two-spirit drag and performance artist residing on occupied Ohlone Lands. Mudd operates on and off the stage as a full time performer, crew member and Haus member for the iconic drag shows “Tito Soto’s: Princess Forever”, “Clutch the Pearls” and “Reparations: and All Black Drag Show.” You can catch Mudd this fall as Audrey 2 in NCTC’s Little Shop of Horrors.

Jota Mercury is an international award winning drag performer who uses drag to challenge toxic masculinity and machismo as we know it. They are Mexican-American and Indigenous, originally from Fresno, California but entertaining the greater Bay Area for the past 8 years. You may recognize him performing and producing alongside his drag brothers Rebel Kings of Oakland. He’s participated in global competitions, going as far as Panamá City, Panamá to perform his El Rey act for the Panamá Burlesque Festival. They are 3X voted Best of the Bay Drag King.

brooke became fully immersed in the San Francisco Bay Area dance community in 2022. They have since collaborated with dawsondancesf, REYES Dance, Xochipilli Dance Company, Audrey Johnson, David Herrera Performance Co, Joe Goode Performance Group, UNA Productions, as a movement consultant and Deviser/Performer with DETOUR Productions, and as faculty with TEENS at LINES. brooke has been exploring the intersections of their love of performance and their ever evolving queerness, as Bobby, since 2023 and is grateful to indulge in the playful joys of Drag.

Kim Ip is a New Zealand born, Queer femme, first generation Chinese American choreographer and movement artist based in the Bay Area. KRIMM’S DANCE PARTY, her ongoing dance performance project, is inspired by femme fatales of film noir and video vixens of pop culture. Currently she is making group dance work about elders and aging into sexiness. Her solo project: “KRIMM” is the meeting of performance art, drag, metal, and being unhinged and simultaneously witnessed.  She has received residencies from Shawl-Anderson Dance Center, SafeHouse, Bandaloop, and CounterPulse. She has been commissioned and curated by Edge on the Square, Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture, CounterPulse, B4BEL4B Gallery, APICC and Gray Area. Kim is grateful to serve as dramaturgical and choreographic support for Ambrose and the cast of Daisy Chain<><>Star Connection.