An avant-garde drag show is coming to Oakland for one night only

Obsidian Obsurd just isn’t your typical drag artist, and through a one-night efficiency this weekend they’ll showcase their avant-garde artistry in a manufacturing two years within the making. Their upcoming present, titled “The Final 7 Days of Obsidienne Obsurd,” will probably be held on the Calvin Simmons Theater, within the newly renovated Henry J. Kaiser Middle for the Arts in Oakland. The present delves into Obsidienne’s gender transition, the psychological well being and monetary struggles that got here with that call, and the household dynamics at play with their mother and father and Obsidienne’s id as a classical musician.

Obsidienne — whose actual identify is Ezra Costanza — is a Chinese language-American genderless performer and classically educated violist who received his begin in drag through the pandemic, when performers needed to transfer their exhibits on-line. One of their first performances of the music “I do not wish to battle” by the band Alabama Shakes was a tribute to the Black Lives Matter motion that broke out in the summertime of 2020.

Their work interweaves their cultural id, their life as a classical musician and their drag id. They use cultural components, such because the masks of the Beijing Opera, as inspiration for his or her intricate black and white face portray with a pop of coloration.

“By mixing all these worlds collectively, we have created this secret third factor: the non-binary considering of taking a visible picture and operating with it, or making an attempt to specific issues by motion or association of individuals on stage. The individuals I selected for this piece all mirror in some ways the identical targets and aims as what I’ve,” Obsidienne mentioned throughout a current artist’s discuss forward of a preview of the present. “It is actually cool to have this distinctive medium that is tremendous bizarre, undefined and onerous to place into phrases, and that is the connective tissue between all of us.”

Obsidienne is at present an artist-in-residence at Oaklashan arts group co-founded in 2018 by drag artists Mama Celeste And Beatrix Lahaine. The residency, which launched in 2023, gives queer and trans artists with the monetary assets and assist to deliver their inventive efforts to a much bigger stage and attain a broader viewers, Mama Celeste mentioned.

“They’re definitely a product of that [pandemic] time, these had been these close-ups of this hyper psychedelic [face] They did,” Mama Celeste instructed The Oaklandside. “They already struck me as somebody who did one thing aesthetically completely different.”

Mama Celeste and Obsidienne have been engaged on the upcoming present “The Final 7 Days of Obsidienne Obsurd” for 2 years. Obsidienne composed the present in its entirety, designed the set and crafted all 5 of the flowery costumes they put on within the present. In addition they chosen the artists who will probably be on stage with them, together with drag artists Sassi Fran, Lola Ren, Cult babyAnd Lisa Frankenstein.

“Obsidienne has the facility to make a bar filled with drunk gays shut up for 5 minutes to allow them to carry out an acoustic viola solo,” mentioned Mama Celeste. “It is a part of their energy while you have a look at the intricacies of what they do. You may’t be hyper-fixated on the sheer quantity of expertise pouring out of that individual’s physique.”

The present options the world premiere of an authentic composition developed in collaboration with Paul Wiancko of the Kronos Quartet, which Obsidienne will carry out on viola with their mother and father, violinist Debra Fong and cellist Christopher Costanza. The present additionally options an eclectic soundtrack, that includes David Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’, Swedish digital pop artist Fever Ray’s ‘After I Develop Up’, the 1939 jazz basic ‘Harlem Nocturne’ and ‘Do you Doubt Me, Traitor’ by American singer and pianist Kristin Hayter, who performs beneath the stage identify Lingua Ignota.

“Younger individuals are eager about classical music, simply not essentially in a conventional live performance setting,” says Obsidienne. “Queerness is so magical and so illustrious. Plenty of lovely photos can come out of it. That is what we do with out saying it.”

Mama Celeste hopes this one-day present will stimulate dialog about funding tasks that spotlight queer and trans artists.

“Drag deserves levels like this and we wish to present that it’s potential,” mentioned Mama Celeste.