Creature feels fragmentary, and as the child of Magyar immigrants three times removed, I know that I am also blinded by nostalgia and the feeling that I'm an impostor. The schism of these feelings, especially as a former runaway who has both longed for home and run from it, feels resonant. With Viktor Orban’s ‘illiberal democracy’, a government gleefully removing trans rights and inspiring US Republicans “Don’t Say Gay” bills, learning the the legényes feels visceral, a profound reconnection to my ethnicity as a genderqueer body rebelling against prevailing binaries. Creature is an allegory for these complexities; integrating the work of queer elder Count Sandor Vey, literature, and ethnography to create a cohesive piece.

- Tamás/Tanya

C R E A T U R E

JULY 26 @ 8PM / Mabou Mines, 150 1st Avenue, New York / Tix $22/35/45

Creature explores the link between my transmaculinity and Magyar-Hungarian lineage through personal story, folk dance, and the writings and trial of 19th century queer Count Sándor Vay. A lecture-performance, a dance, an ancestral calling, Re/Venue NYC Pop-Up Performances at Mabou Mines is presenting Creature as part of a line-up of works from July 23 to August 3.

Created and performed by Tamás/Tanya Marquardt, with devisers gergö d. farkás, Bálazs Oláh, and Julcsi Vavra, directed by zavé martohardjono, with sound design by Jaye Kovach, scenography by David B. Smith and dramaturgy by Gyula Muskovics.

Support for Creature includes the Canada Council for the Arts, Hunter College, PSC-CUNY, BrickAUX, Banff Centre for the Arts, U500 Fesztival, and Arts Quarter Budapest.

Production History:

July 26, 2025, Re/Venue @ Mabou Mines, Manhattan, New York

June 16, 2024, U500 Fesztival, Budapest, Hungary.

May 19, 2024, Parkside Lounge, Manhattan, New York.

June 4, 2023, Brick AUX, Brooklyn, New York.

May 13, 2023, Banff Centre for Art & Creativity, Banff, Alberta.