KEITH TREVOR FERNANDEZ

PROJECT // Landings – exploring identity through musical theatre, drag, lip sync and South Asian dance.

Landings is an interdisciplinary piece of theatre that is inspired by the lived experienced of Keith Fernandez. It tells the story of a Queer South Asian’s living in countries other than the one they are from, often where they were not permitted to be themselves. The stories are told through the mediums of theatre, music, and dance styles from South Asia and musical theatre practice. The work will also incorporate lip sync, digital theatre and projection mapping as ways for the main character to communicate with their past and present self and create an immersive theatrical experience.

BIO //
Mumbai born, Keith Trevor Fernandez was first inspired to create when his mother took him to an outdoor performance of dancing fountains – think bellagio but not as lush. An eight year old Keith recreated the fountains in his bathroom with a flashlight, the shower head & music playing off his cassette player. His pursuit & curiosity for musical theatre led him across the pond to Canada where he graduated from the Grant MacEwan University Theatre Arts program in 2007. Keith worked tirelessly, performing in out-of the-box musicals at the Edmonton International Fringe Festival, creating opportunities for himself & fellow creatives, directing original musicals & producing shows.

In 2018 he founded Berlin Musicals, a professional musical theatre company providing performance opportunities to young and up-and-coming performers, based in Germany. With Berlin Musicals Keith produced & directed musical theatre nights and three full length musicals, while using the platform to build community and raise awareness of BIPOC voices in the arts. Just as small and special as that moment was creating fountains in his bathroom, Keith continued to create musical theatre in unconventional intimate and urban spaces with a focus on telling stories of marginalized communities, specifically the LGBTQI2S+ family, a community Keith is an out  and proud member of. Keith is currently supporting his very imaginative mind with an educational grounding through a BFA in Performance Creation at Concordia University. A lucky few get to see his drag persona KAJOL, as he develops a new piece of work shaped around his nomadic lifestyle and the pursuit of his hybrid identity – a combination of Drag, LipSync, Musical Theatre and South Asian Folk dance.

DETAILS //
Landings is a collaborative piece of theatre created by a group of collaborators that are predominantly people of colour.

Anita Pandey – Kathak Dancer, Instructor and Choreographer.

Projection Mapping / Set Design – Vanka Salim & Jacob Wan.

Terra MacLeod – Choreographer / Co-director.

Gabriel Dharmoo – Dramaturgy.

Shirley Jaunai-Winter – Costumes.

Further collaborators will be added to this stage of the exploration.