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LGBTQIA+ Theatre

This section contains content about work created by and for the LGBTQIA+ community. Dive in with the series Gender Power and Politics, curated by MJ Kaufman, or Beyond Angry Lesbians and Gay Best Friends: Writing Gender and Sexuality in the 21st Century, a panel from the Dramatists Guild.

The Latest

SWANA and Queer in the Global Story
Video
SWANA and Queer in the Global Story
Doing It For Ourselves
Sunday 26 March 2023
Chicago, Illinois
“Marimacha” Laughs its Way Through Representation of Latine, Black, and Queer Characters
Essay
“Marimacha” Laughs its Way Through Representation of Latine, Black, and Queer Characters
by Daphnie Sicre
13 February 2023
Blessings with Brittani Samuel
Podcast
Blessings with Brittani Samuel
by Yura Sapi, Brittani Samuel
1 February 2023
Cast of the Fully Functional Cabaret.
Just Say Yes
Essay

Just Say Yes

22 October 2014

Drawing a comparison between the manifestation of love and activism, Annie Danger offers compelling insight into queer art in theatre.

Photo from Brown Girls Burlesque.
Going In
Essay

Going In

Gender Discovery Through Performance

22 October 2014

I gravitated towards performance art. Many questions emerged from my practice. What am I on fire to do? What gender(s) can I explore? Where is the niche for performers like me? How do I engage my entire history? Do I pursue opportunities that call for a specific gender(s)? Who is my audience? How do I market myself effectively? Will my intentions and choices determine how I am read or is that something outside my control?

Photo from Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet.
Not Here for the Bard
Essay

Not Here for the Bard

Candor from a Shakespeare Detractor

20 October 2014

Imagine, if you will, a slumber party. A group of tweens huddles around a television in the carpeted family room of a two-story house. Most of them stare, mouths slightly open, entranced by leading man Leonardo DiCaprio. Caught up in his twenty-something good looks, they have found what they’re looking for. But not all of them. Not me.

Beyond Cool
Essay

Beyond Cool

Moving Towards True Transgender Visibility

19 October 2014

MJ Kaufman shares insight on the necessity of trans voices being developed and acknowledged in diverse, multi-faceted, and complex narratives. 

Wall in the AFYT rehearsal space.
About Face Youth Theatre
Essay

About Face Youth Theatre

Checking, Expanding, and Activating Boxes

28 July 2014

In About Face Youth Theatre’s rehearsal space, there is a cluster of post-it notes on the wall titled “Where I Started.” The ensemble’s first impressions range from “not being satisfied” to “ready to just do something” to “oblivion.” These notes relate to the process of AFYT’s current play, Checking Boxes.

Portrait of Johnny Blazes.
Chosen Family
Essay

Chosen Family

A Festival of Plays, for Pride Week in Boston

24 July 2014

Allison Vanouse writes about Sleeping Weazel's 2014 festival of plays, trans cabaret, and solo performance coinciding with Boston Pride Week.

Queer Narratives in Theater for Young Audiences
Essay

Queer Narratives in Theater for Young Audiences

A Call to Action

25 June 2014

Playwright Gabriel Jason Dean and Director Lindsay Amer discuss "risky plays", queer characters and narratives, and young audiences.

Photo from HIR.
The Theater Was Ours
Essay

The Theater Was Ours

Next Gen Nights and Hir at the Magic Theatre

21 March 2014

 looks at how Magic Theatre's initative for young theatre-goes went beyond a discount, and how the premiere of Taylor Mac's Hir at the Magic complemented their earlier production of Buried Child.

The cover of Fun Home.
Anyone Can Whistle
Essay

Anyone Can Whistle

Fun Home and New Musical Theatre

14 January 2014

Rob Onorato discusses Alison Bechdel's Fun Home, its musical adaptation, how both inspire him and advance the form of musical theatre.

Photo from The Gay Heritage Project.
Touching Time
Essay

Touching Time

Choosing Gay Heritage in The Gay Heritage Project

12 December 2013

Damien Atkins, Paul Dunn, and Andrew Kushnir explore gay heritage while questioning whether such a thing can actually exist resulting in a living archive in a play structure.

Don’t Call me Ma’am
Essay

Don’t Call me Ma’am

On the Politics of Trans Casting

29 September 2013

MJ Kaufman offers compelling insight on the politcs of trans casting.

A TYA Artist Turned Gatekeeper, or Perspectives of A TYA Artist Turned Gatekeeper
Essay

A TYA Artist Turned Gatekeeper, or Perspectives of A TYA Artist Turned Gatekeeper

19 August 2013

Riley Braem writes about his experience programming TYA, and why it's important to expose audiences to challenging work – the younger, the better.

Photo from a production of Gross Indecency.
Oscar Wilde on Marriage Equality
Essay

Oscar Wilde on Marriage Equality

2 July 2013

Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde is an old story of Wilde’s relations with the Queen’s son yet, with the current politics, still holds discussion today of the morality of law.

Poster for Juliet and Romeo.
"Go forth and have more talk of these sad things"
Essay

"Go forth and have more talk of these sad things"

Reflections on creating political theater

16 June 2013

Victoria Tucci reflects on her time producing queered adaption of Romeo & Juliet, Juliet & Romeo, in the wake of the Marc Carson murder.

The letters R & J painted on a brick sidewalk.
Eroticizing Gender in Shakespeare’s R&J
Essay

Eroticizing Gender in Shakespeare’s R&J

An Interview with Joe Calarco

27 February 2013

A conversation about the implications and discoveries made when putting Romeo and Juliet in the frame of a same-sex relationship.

Portrait of Patricia Ione Lloyd.
Sexy Bitches, Notes to God, and Unicorns
Essay

Sexy Bitches, Notes to God, and Unicorns

An Interview with Patricia Ione Lloyd

11 February 2013

Virginia Grise interviews Playwright Patricia Ione Lloyd about her work and process.

Several people in penguin costumes in a production of And Then Came Tango.
Ruffling Feathers
Essay

Ruffling Feathers

Theater for Social Justice

29 January 2013

Creating and producing social advocacy theatre faces many roadblocks. Emily Freeman learned that exercising relentlessness while practicing love is the best way to find an audience.

Poster reading "Endless Gaycation" featuring a figure wearing sunglasses and a one-piece swimsuit and leaning to one side.
If You Lived Here You’d Be Homo Now
Essay

If You Lived Here You’d Be Homo Now

Queer Performativity in New Orleans

18 January 2013

Ace Falcor examines the queerness of New Orleans, and what it means to be a queer performer in the city where anything goes.

Same-Sex Marriage Town-Hall at Woolly Mammoth
Video

Same-Sex Marriage Town-Hall at Woolly Mammoth

Monday 4 June 2012
Washington, D.C., United States

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company presented a reading of 8 and a town-hall style discussion of same-sex marriage livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Monday 4 June 2012 at 5:45 p.m. PDT / 7:45 p.m. CDT / 8:45 p.m. EDT.

A woman wearing a floral headpiece.
Making Way for Queer Experiments
Essay

Making Way for Queer Experiments

An Interview with Kolmel WithLove

24 April 2012

The News creates a space for queer performances to be put on a stage. Each ten minute time slot allows artists a place to experiment, explore new work, and start their conversation.

Parallel Tracks 2.0 Teaser image.
Parallel Tracks 2.0
Series

Parallel Tracks 2.0

Parallel Tracks 2.0 gathers diverse voices of Canadian theatre artists and producers to explore the ways in which anti-oppressive approaches are part of our creative work, in live spaces as well as digital ones. Originally commissioned by and presented in partnership with Toronto's Undercurrent Creations, conversations about care, community engagement, and consent take centre stage in this series. From navigating ethics in contracting, to intergenerational storytelling, this series reflects on ways of gathering and collaborating in online creative spaces. This series is in part supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.

two female performers standing in the middle of a rehearsal room holding hands
Rebuilding for the Future: A Convergence of Thought Leaders in Intimacy Practice
Series

Rebuilding for the Future: A Convergence of Thought Leaders in Intimacy Practice

The intimacy industry is under pressure. While many creatives and artistic leaders see the benefits of intimacy direction and coordination as specific care and technical support for actors, the industry itself has not yet created an equitable and inclusive training process for marginalized people. In this series, Ann James, founder of Intimacy Coordinators of Color (ICOC), interviews eight queer and global majority intimacy specialists about the joys and challenges they face in the industry. What emerges from this series of interviews is a complex, multifaceted range of approaches, training models, and innovations for the future of intimacy that actively decenter whiteness, colonization, and appropriation.

headshot of will wilhelm surrounded by flower illustrations and text teacakes and tarot.
Teacakes and Tarot with Will Wilhelm
Series

Teacakes and Tarot with Will Wilhelm

One part cocktail party and one part slumber party!

Theatre, Classics, and the future of queer inclusive practices are all in the cards during this intimate interview series with your next artistic crush

black and white poster of historical figures' faces
LA Writers Center's "Breathe"
Series

LA Writers Center's "Breathe"

An online play reading series designed to advance BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ stories

The LA Writers Center is proud to be a diverse organization. We have developed new work that has amplified BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ stories for almost two decades. But we can do better. We think instead of speaking, it would be better to listen. Instead of making promises, it would be best to take action. With that in mind, LAWC is partnering with HowlRound to present “Breathe” an online play reading series designed to advance these stories.

Making Queer Theatre with Young People in Texas 
Series

Making Queer Theatre with Young People in Texas 

This series documents a junior high LGBTQ+ production of Romeo and Juliet.