Being in Transit, Being Mississauga is a double-feature performance program with Maya Ben David and Kiera Boult—two artists whose practices orbit humour, critique, and character-building. With wit and sharp insight, they explore urban identity and mobility through performance.

In the first half of the program, taking place on the bus from Toronto to Mississauga, Maya Ben David introduces the “runalong”—an amorphous mental puppet that many of us imagined as children while looking out the window of a moving vehicle. Whether a running wolf, a speedy ninja, or a majestic horse, this imaginary figure sprinted alongside us while we stared, bored, into a blurry landscape. Ben David channels this figure to create the optimal bus experience–a space for communing with the creatures of our daydreams. In doing so, she draws attention to the overlooked inner lives of commuters and repositions the city bus as a site of collective imagination and community consciousness. 

Following this, Kiera Boult presents The Absolute World Tour, which kicks off in the post-glamourous Mississauga! This public address arrives in the form of an urgent warning as cultural branding wars erupt across the GTA in the wake of a housing crisis, austerity measures, and Drake’s questionable return to Canadiana.

Delivered by beloved persona, diva, and self-declared municipal defender Kiki, the address draws on her experience advocating for the embrace of Hamilton’s filth and shameless beauty, rescuing the city from flattening stereotypes. The Absolute World Tour promises a roadmap to confront the cultural erasure carried out by clout-chasing developers and the light-skinned privilege and ambitions of figures like Drake, who seize on the city’s vulnerability to stake claim. His latest move: rebranding Mississauga’s iconic “Marilyn Monroe Towers” (a.k.a Absolute World Condos) as part of his expanding “Six” empire.

This searing, satirical spectacle asks: what happens when the suburbs fight back?

Together, Ben David and Boult invite audiences to consider the narratives we attach to urban spaces and the forces–both real and fantastical–that shape how we move through the city.

This program is presented as a part of the lightbox exhibition, In a Manner of Speaking.

We regret that the shuttle bus is not fully accessible.

The Mississauga portion of the program will require some light walking (approximately 10–20 minutes). Seating will be available for those to require it.

Masking and social distancing is strongly recommended for attendees who are able. We also encourage audience members to attend scent-free, to support those with sensitivities.

For additional questions or accessibility needs, please contact: [email protected].