Friday, May 10th

The festival gets underway Friday, May 10 at 5:30 pm with a very special live installation of Magnify my Bones by Jacqueline van de Geer in which the artist will invite an audience member on an intimate exploration of her aging body. At the same time, Cortney S. Cassidy’s video installation The Unbearable Messiness of our Experiences makes tangible the relationship between objects and spaces that are reminders of her past physical traumas.

Then, Friday, May 10 at 7pm, the shows begin! We open with Flod Theatre’s coming of age story Döpel/Ganger that looks at themes of abuse and isolation so very familiar to many queer youth growing up in small towns and communities. We then move on to Christian Scott Martone Dondé and their soundscape diary of self-love in Montreal. Andrew Sawyer provides the not often heard voice of gay fatherhood in the play Can You Hear the Drums? And Bollywood dancer Rameez Karrim celebrates gender fluidity, self-love, and gender expression in Desi Trifecta. Poet and performer Penina Simon is back this year with Theatre Kid or Decisions I Made When I didn’t Love Myself, and the fabulous burlesque team Tulle Kit wraps things up with their backward strip tease Passion Party — watching someone get dressed has never been so exciting! The whole evening is hosted by the Devil of Mount Royal — and poet extraordinaire — GUMMO. Please join us for what promises to be an evening of extraordinary (and eclectic!) entertainment.

Saturday, may 11th

On Saturday, May 11, we’re back at Playwrights Workshop Montreal at 7:00pm with our very special guest host Abbylongandsodoyou. Our evening begins with the charming comedy of Alo Azimov and their set Navigating Dating & Enby Diary. Then, Montreal filmaker Christina Saliba makes her writing debut with Rumination, a conversation between a woman and her inner demon. Kai Taddei delves into the rift between projected self-confidence of a young trans man and his inner turmoil with The Real Sk8r Boi. Eggs and Ellen Page presented by Crooked Dears looks at how mental and physical illness impacts a young queer couple, and finally Maximaliste Productions presents the sequel to last year’s Fringe hit with Is This How Clowns Keep you Up All Night? which promises to be a raunchy, rollicking good time.

Sunday, may 12th

We close on Sunday, May 12 with an Open Mic from 1:00pm-4:00pm at Playwrights Workshop Montréal hosted by the mega-talented, META-award winning Anton May and with special guest performer Lauren Dillen who’s been making an impact on the Toronto music scene.

art market

Throughout The Rose Festival — and for the first time this year — we will have an Art Market. Axel Suicidal will be offering prints that celebrate the well-being of women of colour. Emily Duncan is a fluid artist. Kaeder Krafts is a photographer originally from the San Francisco Bay Area offering prints of disappearing areas of Oakland and The Castro, as well as driftwood art. Star Nouveau is a rapidly rising star on the Montreal art scene showing a number of illustrations and prints. Vulvaluv will only be here on Saturday, May 11, selling vulva inspired jewelry and textiles that you don’t want to miss!