Buddies in Bad Times Theatre

Hey you! We see you scrolling on your phone right now! Are you chronically online? Do you love theatre, and queer art, and the occasional meme? @buddiesto is hiring a Social Media Coordinator! We’ve got a full job posting up for you to read at: buddiesinbadtimes.com/news/job-posting-social-media-coordinator/ Here are some of the key points: Position Type: Part-time (30 hours per week) Positions Available: 1 Salary Range: $36,000 – $39,000 annually, plus Extended Health Benefits Closing Date: July 23 at 10:00AM Start Date: Mid-August (or sooner) Tell your friends!

Phew! 😮‍💨 Pride was a real whirlwind this year! We had a jam packed schedule of events over five weeks — thanks for coming and partying with us! 🪩 Now we’re sweeping glitter off the floor and thinking ahead to the fall season, which means getting some improvements done in the space so we can come back bigger and badder than ever 😈 @buddiesto will close our doors for the rest of the summer, reopening in September with our 2024-2025 theatrical season and more parties and programming in @tallulahscabaret too. If you’ve got any questions don’t hesitate to ask! We can’t wait to see you again in a couple months!

On Sunday afternoon on June 30, come celebrate one of Buddies In Bad Times’ finest traditions with The Lady Oiye’s Tea Dance 🫖☕️ Because sometimes a girl just gets tired of watching the Pride Parade for 5 hours from behind five rows of tall people’s head and shoulders, you know?! This FREE party is named after former Buddies artistic director David Oiye who was known to make an appearance in drag for this yearly event 💋 Come enjoy a casual respite from the frenzy of Church St. Sunday, while DJ Lushus Lix keeps the music going on all afternoon! #pride #churchstreet #torontogay #teadance

New Ho Queen: Room 888 🏏 06.30.24 @buddiesto 12 Alexander Street 1030p-2a TICKET LINK IN BIO Photographer @felice.c0m 🫶🏽 Q. Feeling Lucky? A. Yes. It’s Pride Long weekend and we are activating the full 500 capacity venue space at Buddies for an experience so hot you’re safe word will be New Ho Queen. Also, Welcome Kimmy Couture from Canada’s Drag Race!!! When you enter Room 888 get ready to say, ‘Yes, please.’ PRESALE: $50 AT THE DOOR: $60 Starring KIMMY COUTURE @itskimmycouture Performance Century Peg @vahnsuhn WITH Ms. Nookie Galore @santotricks DUNGEON MASTER Empress Oren @empressoren DJS @llcoolwei @ki.ki.kai.kai @qq_dumpling @discoraphy GOGOS @akira.dawn @milkshake.exp @p.kat.nye @roderunners @willy.uhm @quinccyq Special thanks to @makeupxalun for being the sweetest makeup artist! The @thekneelingroom for th beautiful space and to @shopthemensroom for providing fetish wear for the shoot ⛓️ Accessibility Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is a fully wheelchair accessible space. PAY IT FORWARD TICKETS If you are QTBIPOC and in need of financial assistance to get a ticket, please contact newhoqueen@gmail.com. If you would like to donate tickets to QTBIPOC folx, and/or support New Ho Queen please email newhoqueen@gmail.com.

Your favourite back-to-back Pride weekend double-header is 💥BACK AGAIN💥 this year with a full facility show and dance party, June 29 & 30! Can you handle TWO NIGHTS of Toronto’s top drag and burlesque acts and an all-night dance party with our guest DJs? 🫨 Check out the /show/tallulahs-pride-party-6/ to see the lineup AND if you’re savvy, to buy your tickets in advance so you can skip the ticket buyer’s line on the night of 😎 Bring your besties, bring your lovers, your partner and your polycule, hide your diamonds, hide your exes, cuz it’s no time to be a fool! ⭐️ FRIDAY JUNE 28 ⭐️ Hosted by @theirholiness Featuring @itsdeverybess @lucindamiu @thedianasauss DJ @sofiafly_ ⚡️ SATURDAY JUNE 29 ⚡️ Hosted by @makayla.couture Featuring @kuya_atay @princemannydingo @livelaughlavodka DJ @fawnbigcanoe AND @djkimiwan #pride #lgbtq #partytime #prideparty #getdown #torontopride

Buddies Residency The Buddies Residency program supports queer artists and collectives in the delicious and arduous task of bringing new work to life. A playground for brazen creatives, it has nurtured ideas into award-winning performances for the Buddies mainstage and beyond. Artistic Associate Erum Khan leads this experimental incubator into its 15th year, where new and returning participants will continue to excavate their stories to share with the world. Model: @erumnkhan Art Direction/Photography: @franznfriends Photography Assistants: @kristanewey + @b.cair Makeup: @rahsthetics Styling: @garconnnne + @cursed_shawty

Tallulah’s Cabaret Like its ambisextrous namesake, Buddies’ in-house bar and performance space @tallulahscabaret does it all. It’s throbbing club nights and community tap dance lessons. High-concept drag and low-stakes open mics. Go for pre-drinks but stay late for the post-show discourse—maybe even spark that next collaboration. 😘 With local brews and sober options that aren’t an after-thought, Tallulah’s is the come-as-you-are bar for old friends, new lovers, partiers, poets, and curious passerby. See you under the chandeliers! Tallulah’s Cabaret is open Wednesday to Sunday from 6:00 p.m. to midnight (or later). Check out /events or @follow tallulahscabaret for the upcoming calendar. Model: @sebastianurmom + @charleeboyes Art Direction/Photography: @franznfriends Photography Assistants: @kristanewey + @b.cair Makeup: @rahsthetics Styling: @garconnnne + @cursed_shawty

Vivek Shraya’s I Won’t Envy A podcast by Vivek Shraya co-produced with Buddies in Bad Times I Won’t Envy is a new podcast series where award winning author and artist Vivek Shraya has intimate one-on-one conversations with fellow artists working in various fields—including performance artist Alok, musician Sara Quin (from Tegan and Sara) and writer Alicia Elliott—who disclose their experiences with professional jealousy. In Season 1, launching this October, we’ll talk about when artists have felt most triggered, how they have managed (sometimes poorly) this feeling, and what they have learned from their jealousy. I Won’t Envy will change how you think about jealousy being an emotion that we must feel ashamed about. Model: @vivekshraya Art Direction/Photography: @franznfriends Photography Assistants: @kristanewey + @b.cair Makeup: @alanna_of_love Styling: @garconnnne + @cursed_shawty + @vivekshraya Romper: @luomostrano

Party in Residence: New Ho Queen An event should suspend time and create worlds. If you think that’s too high a standard, just watch us. We know that parties are an art form—and so does New Ho Queen, our FIRST EVER party-in-residence. 🎉 With Queer Asian Love at the heart of all they do, New Ho Queen is a collective of artists, leaders in design, performance, film and fashion, that work together to produce joyful, new dance floor experiences. If you were lucky enough to be at their Lunar New Year party last year, you know what we’re talking about. They’ll be celebrating the Year of the Snake at Buddies 🐍 (so we suggest you start prepping your look now). Model: @discoraphy + @santotricks Art Direction/Photography: @franznfriends Photography Assistants: @kristanewey + @b.cair Makeup: @rahsthetics Styling: @garconnnne + @cursed_shawty

Genrefuck May 2025 Never Walk Alone by Julie Phan | Goner by Marikiscrycrycry | Reina by Augusto Bitter | Bijuriya by Gabriel Dharmoo A Buddies in Bad Times performance series in partnership with fu-GEN Theatre, PNSNV, and Pencil Kit Productions Four movement-driven solo pieces. Four audacious artists. Buddies offers space for intimate works to converse and collide through a series of rolling double-bills pairing local works with touring shows. This new platform features work from Julie Phan, Marikiscrycrycry, Augusto Bitter, and Gabriel Dharmoo. Bitter’s world premiere Reina envisions the many lives of the anonymous woman depicted on a bag of Harina P.A.N. corn flour, as Phan’s world premiere Never Walk Alone uses endurance pole dance to spin a story of family, burnout, and economics. Dharmoo’s Bijuriya code-switches between drag, song, and sound as it navigates its creator’s dual personas, while the Canadian premiere of Goner reimagines Black horror aesthetics for a live context through fearsome and sensuous choreography. This is art on the edge of gender and genre. Welcome to Genrefuck. Model: @augustobitter + @juxphan Art Direction/Photography: @franznfriends + @royadelsol Photography Assistants: @kristanewey + @b.cair Makeup: @rahsthetics Styling: @garconnnne + @cursed_shawty Treatment: @franznfriends

Shedding a Skin By Amanda Wilkin April 2025 A Nightwood Theatre production in association with Buddies in Bad Times On the 15th floor of a London tower block, a revolution takes place. Myah has ejected herself from a corporate hellscape only to crash-land in the spare room of an elder named Mildred—an evasive auntie with laminated house rules and hidden wounds. But healing takes many shapes, and sometimes it looks like sneaking your roommate’s duckanoo. Shedding a Skin is a one-woman buddy comedy for the heartbroken 💔 a series of exquisitely observed, quietly radical scenes that offers a hand to those feeling the weight of the world. Drop your baggage at the door. Connection is resistance. Canadian Premiere. Directed by Cherissa Richards. 2020 Winner of The Verity Bargate Award. Model: @cherissarichards Photography: @lightshedcreative Treatment: @franznfriends

There is Violence, There is Righteous Violence, and There is Death or; The Born-Again Crow March 2025 A Buddies in Bad Times and Native Earth Performing Arts co-production Directed by Jessica Carmichael Queer Métis theatre artist Caleigh Crow tends towards themes of metaphysics, class struggle, magic, and serious whimsy. This is the Toronto premiere of her Indigenous Voices Awards-nominated play, directed by Jessica Carmichael. In There is Violence, Beth wants to burn it all down 🔥 The coconut milk section, the lady razor section, the healthy snacks section. The whole damn superstore. She only makes it to the magazine rack, but her act of resistance (or “public breakdown”) gets her fired and lands her back with her mom in the suburbs—where a talking crow shows her how to harness her powerful political rage. A cul-de-sac gothic with a searing punk sensibility, There is Violence reads like an unearthed X-Files episode the suits were too afraid to air. It demands that we acknowledge our fury. Because how else can we feel real? Model: @caleigh_crow Art Direction/Photography: @franznfriends Photography Assistants: @kristanewey + @b.cair Makeup: @rahsthetics Styling: @garconnnne + @cursed_shawty