September 4, 2014
Laverne Cox, Kate Bornstein in Weeklong GENDERFLUID Fest
Winnie McCroy READ TIME: 5 MIN.
Laverne Cox, Holly Woodlawn, Hedwig and Kate Bornstein will headline GENDERFLUID, a week-long festival of performance, film, and art by transgender and genderfluid artists, Sept. 9-14 at Baruch Performing Arts Center.
Featured performers for the event include Emmy-nominated "Orange is the New Black" star Laverne Cox in a conversation with her twin brother, artist M. Lamar, to "discuss growing up in Alabama, their growing realization of the paths their lives would take, their family, and their careers today."
Other headliners include performance artist and "Gender Outlaw" author Kate Bornstein, stand-up comedian Ian Harvie, and Andy Warhol superstar Holly Woodlawn, to be interviewed by columnist Michael Musto. A collection of Warhol's photographs and silkscreen prints featuring his genderfluid friends will also be on display.
On Tuesday, September 9: Laverne Cox and M. Lamar will hold their first speaking engagement together. Actor and activist Cox is one of the most well-known transgender women in the country, with a Time Magazine cover, an Emmy nomination, and numerous national television interviews to her credit.
She is joined by her twin brother, whose solo art exhibition Negrogothic is at Participant from Sept. 7-October 12; he also played Cox's character pre-transition on "Orange is the New Black."
The event will be held at 8 p.m. at Mason Hall, 17 Lexington Avenue. $20; $100 VIP tickets include preferred seating and a backstage photo op with Cox and Lamar.
On Wednesday, September 10, South African artist Gabrielle LeRoux will show short films and photographs she has created about her travels throughout Africa photographing transgender individuals. She is joined by Ugandan gender activist Victor Mukasa to discuss the state of transgender issues in Africa.
The event will be held at 7:30 p.m. at Engelman Hall, Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue (enter on 25th Street). Free.
On Thursday, September 11, tune in for a free screening of "Passing Ellenville," a short documentary that looks at the lives of James and Ashlee, two transgender teens living in a small, impoverished town in the Hudson Valley. It is followed by a talkback with the filmmaker Gene Fischer.
The event will be held at 7 p.m. at Engelman Hall, Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue (enter on 25th Street). Free.
At 8 p.m. that evening, Bianca Leigh stars in "Busted! The Musical," a funny and moving autobiographical one-woman show about her decision to fund her gender reassignment surgery by working as a dominatrix, a decision that led her to Riker's Island. Enjoy original songs by Jeff Whitty ("Avenue Q"), Taylor Mac, and other theatre notables. Directed by Tim Cusack and presented by Theatre Askew.
This event will be held at 8 p.m. at Engelman Hall, Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue (enter on 25th Street). $20 ($15 students and seniors).
On Friday, September 12, get your ticket for "Kate Bornstein: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us." Bornstein is the original gender outlaw, and this is an evening of her favorite autobiographical spoken word pieces, her most personal stories, her favorite comic and dramatic monologues from over a quarter of a century on the stage with this material.
With great love and tenderness, Kate gently guides audiences through a moving, rollicking, and ultimately uplifting journey through sex and gender beyond the binary of men-and-women-only.
The event will be held at 8 p.m. at the Nagelberg Theatre, Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue (enter on 25th Street). $30 ($20 students and seniors); $60 VIP tickets include preferred seating and a backstage photo op.
On Saturday, September 13, enjoy a free screening of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch." Hedwig was willing to undergo a sex change to marry the soldier she loved to escape Communist East Germany, but things didn't quite go as planned. Join them for a screening of the rock musical film starring John Cameron Mitchell (the play is currently running on Broadway).
This event begins at 6 p.m. at Engelman Hall, Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue (enter on 25th Street). Free.
Later that evening, stick around for "An Evening with Holly Woodlawn." Film Director Paul Morrissey will introduce Warhol superstar Holly Woodlawn, to be interviewed onstage by Michael Musto about her life and career, and share rare clips from her own collection of her films, TV appearances and live stage appearances.
Woodlwan will also perform a few songs live, including the classic "Walk on the Wild Side," which Lou Reed wrote about HER. Enjoy a rare evening with a legend.
This event begins at 8 p.m. at Nagelberg Theatre, Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue (enter on 25th Street). $25. ($20 students and seniors); $50 VIP tickets include preferred seating and a backstage photo op.
And at 9:30, see "Ian Harvie: Superhero." You may know Harvie as Margaret Cho's opening act, a cross-country headliner or a groundbreaking trans comedian unafraid to joke about subjects no other comedian has ever touched. Harvie is hilarious, poking fun at topics from top surgery, to his fear of public restrooms, to his active sex life.
Harvie's unique act queers the traditionally macho, sex-obsessed world of stand up in ways you won't believe, proving that laughter cuts across all gender identities and ultimately unites us all. You can see him co-starring on the new TV series Transparent on Amazon, out at the end of September.
This event will be held at 9:30 p.m. at Nagelberg Theatre, Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue (enter on 25th Street). $20. ($15 students and seniors).
Baruch Performing Arts Center is celebrating its tenth anniversary this fall. With four separate theatres, BPAC presents a full slate of theatre, music, dance, lectures, films, and panels throughout the year. Located on the Baruch College Campus, BPAC is under the aegis of the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences. The Weissman School celebrates its fifteenth anniversary this fall.
Winnie McCroy is the Women on the EDGE Editor, HIV/Health Editor, and Assistant Entertainment Editor for EDGE Media Network, handling all women's news, HIV health stories and theater reviews throughout the U.S. She has contributed to other publications, including The Village Voice, Gay City News, Chelsea Now and The Advocate, and lives in Brooklyn, New York.