Kelindah has been performing as Drag Persona, Theydy Bedbug since 2016. They are the current reigning “Mx. Brooklyn 2019,” “the bug bite you beg for,” and the “dad joke of drag.” Their art is a collage of campy drag, grotesque burlesque and narrative poetry to reclaim their body, queer audiences, and reckon with belonging.
In performance Theydy is part acrobat, part theater-maker, full clown. They bring narrative and emotional range to drag audiences that don’t always expect to be taken on a journey. In them, femininity and masculinity simultaneously coexist in harmony, in discord, and in the erotic. Through prop and costume reveals, character transformations, and stylized movement, they question what sexy can be, and what it takes to be a true showman— or, showthem.
Since 2016, Theydy has presented work in NYC at Pioneer Works, Gibney Dance, Dixon Place, Triskelion Arts, Coney Island USA, The Stonewall Inn, UCB, Chelsea Music Hall, The Tank, BAM, House of Yes, VICE Headquarters, Columbia University, National Sawdust, 3 Dollar Bill, FIT, BAX, and Bushwig at The Knockdown Center, among others.