Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is pleased to announce the line-up for Queer Pride 2024 – a festival of queer theatre, comedy, cabaret, art, music, and parties that showcases our community's unstoppable spirit. For over a month, Buddies will play host to a stellar line-up of Toronto’s most exciting queer entertainers, with guest producers bringing their best, alongside Buddies staple events like the 2-Spirit Cabaret (with Native Earth Performing Arts), Emerging Creators Unit showcase, and Tallulah’s Pride Party.

“This year’s “mega-Pride” caps off our 45th anniversary season with five weeks of queer excellence, celebration, and the glorious messiness of it all,” says Artistic Director ted witzel, who curated this year’s festival alongside Artistic Associate Erum Khan. “Pride is a time when we throw open our doors and invite in all the throbbing, disruptive energy of queer joy. this year’s line-up is an outsized and outstanding roster of queer brilliance from across the city and beyond, from intimate performances to sweaty dance parties and everything between.”

This year’s festival gets an early start in May, kicking off with a full-facility celebration, 45 Years of Messy Queers, hosted by Diane Flacks, featuring site activations and performances by artists who’ve worked with the world’s largest and longest-running queer theatre over the course of its 45 years.

FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS

 • Opportunities to see top tier drag artists from Toronto and beyond, with a glitzy Pride drag extravaganza in a new partnership with Vision Drag, and a visit from the Queen of Ireland herself, Panti Bliss, with her one-woman show, If These Wigs Could Talk, in partnership with the Canada Ireland Foundation

 • Sharings from this year’s Emerging Creators Unit cohort, isi bhakhomen, Heddy Graterol and Sebastian Urmom; and the return of the 2-Spirit Cabaret, in partnership with Native Earth Performing Arts, hosted this year by Canada’s Drag Race star Chelazon Leroux.

 • Concerts and cabarets, including Vag Halen’s The Vag of the Beast, punk-music showcase Scrapfest, and a special 10-year anniversary concert by Toronto’s beloved Queer Songbook Orchestra.

 • The best queer comedy in town, with Buddies regulars GayAF and Homo Night in Canada– showcasing the talents of Brandon Ash-Mohammed, Martha Chavez, Ben Sosa-Wright, Dawn Whitwell, Kyle Browrigg, Messy Margaret, and more.

 • The Rainbow Seniors Showcase - a cabaret and social celebrating queer elders and their stories, with a focus on intergenerational connection as part of Buddies’ Youth/Elders Program, made possible through the support of the Pride and Remembrance Foundation.

 • Late night fun including After Werk, Cherry Bomb, Pride Through the Decades, Fierce Furry Buddies x Pups and Pals, Amateur Strip Night judged by Drag Things, Throb, Steers and Queers, plus two Pride weekend full-facility parties with some of Toronto’s best drag queens and DJs, and, capping it all of on Pride Sunday, the Buddies debut of one of the city’s hottest parties, New Ho Queen.

QUEER PRIDE 2024 PROGRAMMING

Queer Pride is radical love and defiant self expression. It’s a time to celebrate everything that we are and all that we can be, while reimagining the spaces we create for all of our queer communities to come together.

It's in this spirit that we present Queer Pride 2024 – a festival of queer theatre, comedy, cabaret, art, music, and parties that showcases our community's unstoppable spirit. All month long, Buddies hosts a stellar line-up of Toronto’s most exciting queer entertainers, with guest producers bringing their best, alongside Buddies staple events.

For complete programming visit buddiesinbadtimes.com.