performance

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I work with movement, voice and drag, in theaters, galleries and public spaces.

  • Major self-produced performance works: the water’s wide (2026), flowers and fog (2024), the edge of a cloud (2024), before the clay dries (2022)

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  • Credits: Detour Productions, Hope Mohr Dance, Rebecca Fitton, Kim Ip / KRIMM’S DANCE PARTY, Fog Beast, Megan Lowe Dances, Lenora Lee Dance, Peiling Kao, Genevieve Quick

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  • Recent collaborations: Standard Impatiens‍ with Kim Ip (October + December 2025), ‍Rage Room with Aiano Nakagawa and Ainsley Tharp (2025), No Death No Magic with Danny Nguyen (Jan 2024)

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  • Deuce Lee was born at Clutch the Pearls / Makeout Room — and has performed at OASIS’s Princess, YBCA’s Bay Area Now 9, Aunt Charlie’s, KQED Live, and The Chinese Historical Society .

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choreography

  • Joy, an elder Chinese woman with black and grey speckled hair, in profile - looks at Melissa - with short dark brown hair with a blonde whisper at their temple, wearing a red patterned qipao with white and red Chinese Opera-inspired makeup

    花和霧 flowers and fog (2024)

    May 2024 marked a major world premiere of 花和霧 flowers and fog with my mother Joy, a singer and writer.

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  • melissa, a light-skinned Chinese american, stands in a dark theater while throwing pink confetti in the air, looking up. They wear a sheer white tunic shirt with black pants and long dark brown hair

    the water's wide (2026)

    I revisited 花和霧 flowers and fog as a solo work with song / storytelling / movement, trying to pick the show up from its very last moments and distill its memory.

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  • two mixed asian people (melissa and malia) sit on two plastic stools next to each other - both wearing mustard yellow outfits and short dark brown hair - in front of a royal blue wall with an installation of big ceramic eyes spilling tears

    before the clay dries (2022)

    Malia Hatico-Byrne and I spent time in Cathy Lu’s ceramic installation, Interior Garden — and made a performance in response.

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  • melissa, a light-skinned Chinese American person with short dark brown hair and clown white makeup on their forehead blended into skin at their cheeks - wears a silky charcoal tunic and gestures with their hands in front of them, looking down

    the edge of a cloud (2024)

    I rehearsed in the Moving Clouds group show at Southern Exposure, devising a performance with Lawrence Tome that responded to select works.

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performer / collaborator

Melissa has been collaborating with Detour Productions since 2014 as a deviser, performer and company member. Recent credits include: Pompeii (2025, Mr. Applegate); Twilight Aristocracy (2024, core ensemble); We Build Houses Here (2023, core ensemble); Beloved Comet Falling Up (2022, duet).

MORE ABOUT DETOUR

Other performance credits include:

  • Hope Mohr Dance (2025 - care/stamina with Karla Quintero - Catherine Clark Gallery)

  • Rebecca Fitton (2024 - approval process - Space 124)

  • Fog Beast (2014-2023 - Friendly Host / These Lines Are Living / Trolley Dances / The Big Reveal - BANDALOOP / Headlands Center for the Arts / Dogpatch / Asian Art Museum)

  • Megan Lowe Dances (2022-2023 - Pieces of Peace / No way you can encompass all the things you might / Community Hub: Enduring Vitality - ODC Theater / De Young Museum / Willy Woo Woo Wong Playground for Trolley Dances)

  • Kim Ip / KRIMM’S DANCE PARTY (2022 - Kindred Swell - Fort Mason Center for the Arts)

  • Peiling Kao (2021 - Island Circuit - Honolulu, HI)

  • Lenora Lee Dance (2020-2021 - And The Community Will Rise - Online / SF Chinatown)

  • Genevieve Quick (2019 - Planet Celadon - Asian Art Museum)

VIEW ARTIST CV

Hope Mohr Dance - Rebecca Fitton - Fog Beast - Megan Lowe Dances - Kim Ip / KRIMM’S DANCE PARTY - Peiling Kao - Lenora Lee Dance - Genevieve Quick

Hope Mohr Dance - Rebecca Fitton - Fog Beast - Megan Lowe Dances - Kim Ip / KRIMM’S DANCE PARTY - Peiling Kao - Lenora Lee Dance - Genevieve Quick

direction / dramaturgy

I work as a dramaturg + contributing director

on projects to clarify character arcs, experiment with tension and release, and shape the internal/external worlds of the performance. My role as a collaborator is to understand a project’s creative vision and help translate it into potent creative choices that both land with audiences and deepen performers’ connection to their own work.

Recent collaborations:
Standard Impatiens‍ with Kim Ip (October + December 2025)
Rage Room with Aiano Nakagawa and Ainsley Tharp (Nov 2024)
No Death No Magic with Danny Nguyen (Jan 2024)

drag

Deuce Lee - a Chinese American drag king with thick black calligraphic eyebrows and goatee, perches in a runner stance, wearing a black cutout bodysuit, white fringe cowboy boots and a yellow cowboy hat

Deuce Lee

is my drag king persona. He moonlights mostly with Clutch the Pearls at Makeout Room, but has also been spotted at Aunt Charlie’s, YBCA’s Bay Area Now 9, Princess at OASIS, Pine Knoll Park and KQED live.

Deuce Lee draws inspiration from traditional Chinese opera aesthetic/face, Bruce Lee’s media/martial arts legacy, and the drag ancestry of Black & Brown queers. He explores themes of Asian American identity by flipping cultural tropes, painting hyperboles of gender, and challenging drag norms.

All photos of Deuce in the yellow cowboy hat are by Danny Hernandez, courtesy of Clutch the Pearls / Detour Productions — plus the center image below. Deuce’s 2019 debut at Clutch the Pearls is pictured below (right) by Matthew Bodaly.

Deuce Lee - a Chinese American drag king with thick black calligraphic eyebrows and goatee, kneeling with their hands on their hat, wearing a black cutout bodysuit, white fringe cowboy boots and a yellow cowboy hat

Connect with Deuce on Instagram
@deucelee.sf