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ABOUT

Viva la Pepa generates collective and unapologetic performances that cross conventional theatrical boundaries by employing multiple forms (experimental, drag, burlesque, movement and voice). Our works are fueled by the overlapping values of Latinx and Queer cultures: melodrama, passion, decadence, and sensuality.

 
Logo design by Mr. Liqueur at Taste the Tease

Logo design by Mr. Liqueur at Taste the Tease

 
 

Viva La Pepa works with multi-generational queer (as in gender, sexuality, politics, and/or philosophies of thoughts/actions/behaviors) dancers based in the Twin Cities. The name comes from Viva la Pepa (the Hispanic colloquial term describing party, revelry, loudness, and anarchy) and plays on Pepa (Venezuelan-born performance artist and founder Pedra Pepa’s drag persona Doña Pepa).

 
 
 

WHAT WE DO

Holy Doña by Pedro Pablo, Red Eye Theater's New Works, 2019

ARTWORKS

Viva la Pepa performs in spaces ranging from art galleries such as Public Functionary, Walker Art Center’s gallery 1 and theaters that include Fresh Oysters, Red Eye Theater, Walker Art Center’s McGuire theater, Pillsbury House, Open Eye, Patrick’s Cabaret, 20% Theatre, Lab Theater to nightclubs, Lush, Gay 90s, Kitty Kat Club and music venues, First Ave Mainroom, Moon Palace Book Store. Our shows reach communities diverse in age, abilities, genders, economic backgrounds, and ethnic identities and reflect the views of the performers through a devised creative process directed by Pedro Pablo.

 
 

Drag Story Hour

DRAG STORY HOUR

Drag Story Hour was inspired by programs at other public libraries and schools that invite drag performers to read books to children. Drag Story Hour has presented several seasons supported by the Minnesota Center for Humanities (2018) and the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (2019, 2020, 2021). And most recently premiered their musical ADVENTURAMA in partnership with the East Side Freedom Library and Heart of the Beast puppeteers.

 
Quimbara

Quimbara

DOÑA PEPA

Director of Viva la Pepa, Pedra Pepa’s drag persona. A volcanic eruption, flames flashing, Doña Pepa is ready to be alive, rejoicing in her body to destroy the gender binary.

 

Recocoilcuir(queer) at Winona State University, set on Winona State Students, 2020

EDUCATIONAL OFFERINGS

Viva la Pepa seeks to activate communities through direct engagement. By offering a range of curriculum for any size group, we lead and develop interdisciplinary discussions on themes that involve Art and Social Justice and Queerness and Spirituality.

 

ARTISTS

Pedro Pablo (They/Them) is a Minneapolis based, Venezuelan queer artist. One of the inaugural Jerome Hill’s Jerome Foundation Fellowship recipients. Currently a teaching artist with Pillsbury House Theatre (PHT) and Upstream Arts. Pedro's work has been featured at the Walker Art Center ('15, ’17, ’18, ‘19), Red Eye Theater (’16, '19), as well as various queer events, in drag, like Daddy, Minneapolis Burlesque Festival, Pink and White Ball. They create and perform children's shows Drag Story Hour with PHT artists. Director of Viva la Pepa. Follow Pedro on insta @pedropepa

Pedra Pepa

Genevieve Draškocí Johnson ( she/they) is a queer mom, daughter of a tri-lingual immigrant, dance artist, burlesque performer, administrative professional and activist based out of Minneapolis. GG has performed in, choreographed, produced, directed and managed various productions and classes over a 21-year professional dance career including for St. Mary’s University, Minnesota Conservatory for the Arts, American College Dance Festival, Rhythmically Speaking, 9x22 Dance Lab, Fresh Oysters and with artists such as Brian Evans, Erinn Liebhard, Rush Benson, and Akiko Ostlund. GG currently supports the Taja Will Ensemble as Company Administrator and has been moving with Pedro for over 8 years - a member of Viva La Pepa since its inception! She strives to support the transformative work of local Queer, AAPI, Southeast Asian, BIPOC, GNC and Latinx community artists and works to honor ancestry as a white settler on Dakohta lands.

Genevieve Draškocí

Kim Schneider (She/They) is a queer journalist, dancer, musician and poet in Minneapolis. A lover of audio, literary arts and movement, Schneider is happiest creating work that is collaborative, playful and interdisciplinary. She has also performed with Ignite for five years, a femme flow arts dance group based in Winona, Minnesota. Kimmy has worked with Viva la Pepa since Fall of 2017. Photo by Sydney Swanson. Follow Kimmy on IG @kymeowsh

Kim Schneider

 

Lelis Brito (She/Her) is a Venezuelan-American theater director, choreographer, educator, performer, and director of the Center for Moving Cultures. As director of CMC she advocates for tactile/kinesthetic knowledge in education and cultural transmission. As an artist, she has performed with companies throughout the USA and has created over 70 original works--varying from 6 minute dance solos, to one-hour plays and 3-hour long movement-theatre works. Lelis has worked with Viva la Pepa since Fall 2017.

Lelis Brito

Sharon Picasso (She/Her) is a Minneapolis based movement and interdisciplinary artist. Her creative work incorporates a background in dance, theater, somatics, music and design. Sharon invests in cultivating an inclusive and sustaining creative environment and values process. Her collaborative and performance work provides the privilege of working with a wide variety of artists, most recently Rosy Simas Danse, Jennifer Glaws/Jagged Moves, Deborah Jinza Thayer/Movement Architecture and Paula Mann/Time Track Productions. Sharon Picasso studied Theatre and Psychology at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and earned a degree in Dance Performance and Choreography from The Boston Conservatory. Sharon has been a part of Viva la Pepa since Spring 2017. Check Sharon’s work at www.picassoprojects.com Follow Sharon on IG @yespicasso

Sharon Picasso

Timmy Rehborg (They/Them) is a queer performing artist and dancer from Minneapolis, MN. Timmy is committed to making and performing dances that lend a voice to queer experience in the world, as well as creating art which lives and breathes through the spirit of improvisation. Timmy has been with Viva la Pepa since the Fall of 2017. Follow Timmy on insta @trehborg

Timmy Rehborg

 

Beliza Torres Narváez (She/Her) is an artist/scholar/educator, and Assistant Professor of the Theater Department at Augsburg University. Some of her more recent artistic work includes includes directing Karina Casiano’s Silence is Health (Augsburg), her solo performance Resabios de Amargura or that bitter cabaret at Strike Theatre, and most recently her solo performance Hi...perverted as part of Patrick's Cabaret Latinx-Q. She is also a fellow of the Pangea World Theatre Arts Organizing Institute. Beliza worked with Viva la Pepa for Noche Bomba.

 

Beliza Torres Narváez

 
 

Like currents in a river, our work flows with identities and experiences that converge and are pressed through the structures of our creative processes. The richness of our shared languages and performances, like a river delta, are filled with the force of embodied advocacy building a movement for justice.

 
 
 

THANK YOU

Viva la Pepa is continuously supported by their consultant Michèle Steinwald, their fiscal sponsor Skewed Visions and by their advisory committee, composed by Lelis Brito, Erin Drummond, Masanari Kawahara, Mary Jo Klinker, Tyler Treptow-Bowman, and Pramila Vasudevan.

Website designed in collaboration with Laichee Yang. Welcome image and video by Zoe Cinel.

 
 
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This website has been made possible through Pedro's Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship with the Jerome Foundation. 

 
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