MJ Off Broadway

Y'all know I absolutely love MJ Rodriguez from POSE, and if you've watched seasons one and two of the show we've discovered that she has an amazing singing voice. 

Now that we're anxiously awaiting Season 3 of POSE,  until they start filming it Rodriquez is keeping herself busy with other acting projects like playing Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors
That Pasadena Playhouse production of the musical play started on September 25, and also stars George Salazar.  It's running through October 20 for you Cali folks who wish to see it. 

MJ and George Salazar were on CBS' The Late Late Show With James Corden performing the Suddenly Seymour song from the play, and here's the video from it to brighten your day

Eden Lane, Marlo Bernier and Bianca Leigh To Appear In ART at Harvard Play 'Trans Scripts, Part 1'

The momentum that trans people have been building in the arts and entertainment world is still moving forward despite the disgusting election results.

I was pleased to hear that my homegirl Eden Lane will be for a change on the theater stage instead of her award winning self reporting on the news coming from the theater world as she has done for nearly a decade with her Colorado Public Television based show InFocus With Eden Lane.

The play that Eden will be participating in is being produced by the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University under the leadership of Artistic Director Diane Paulus and Executive Director Diane Quinn  The play is entitled Trans Scripts, Part I:  The Women, and is written by Paul Lucas and directed by Jo Bonney.

TransScripts, Part 1: The Women is an original play crafted by Lucas from from interviews with 75 diverse people from six continents around the world who identify as trans.   Those 75 trans people varied in age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, educational level  and age at transition.

The play is told through the voices of six trans women.

In addition to Eden, the play also stars two other people I'm familiar with in Marlo Bernier and Bianca Leigh.

Matthew Hancock, MJ Rodriguez, Rebecca Root and Jack Wetherall round out the cast for TransScripts that will start rehearsals in New York City after Christmas,

Performances are scheduled to begin on January 19 at the Loeb Drama Center, located at 64 Brattle St. in Cambridge, MA, and will run through February 5

Break a leg Eden and all your TransScripts castmates.   Hope y'all sell the theater out,  and may this play be a megasuccessful blockbuster one with rave reviews!

Scott Turner Schofield's 'Becoming A Man In 127 Easy Steps' Play Coming To Chicago September 12

I have much love for my fellow Texan Scott Turner Schofield (he was born in San Antonio), who last year made a little history by becoming the first out trans actor on daytime television as Maya Avant Forrester's friend Nick on the CBS soap the Bold And The Beautiful.

I had the pleasure of seeing Scott's humorous one act play Debutante Balls while I was in Provincetown, MA last year at Fantasia Fair to pick up the Virginia Prince Transgender Pioneer Award, and understand Scott has another one act play he is preforming called Becoming A Man In 127 Easy Steps.

So what's it about?  It's irreverent and dynamic, graceful and playful, Becoming A Man In 127 EASY Steps engages the deep questions and the locker room jokes about what it means to "become" a man.

Moving beyond the transgender narrative that focuses on the experience of transition, Scott Turner Schofield’s 127 stories explore the drama and hilarity of living a new life in the "opposite" gender. 

Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps has toured the world for nearly a decade to rave reviews, making a deep impact in every community in which it plays. It is an award-winning glimpse into the real life of one transgender man whose artistry as a writer and performer has achieved the highest critical acclaim. 

Becoming a Man in 127 Easy Steps will be in Chicago at the Center on Halsted's Hoover-Leppen Theater on September 12 starting at 7 PM.  Tickets are $25,but no one will be turned away for lack of funds if you wish to see it because it's only going to be in the Windy City for one night only.

Check it out.  You'll be glad you did.  Registering for seats is highly recommended and you can do that at this link.

Hope you peeps in Chitown pack the theater for it, and tell Scott i said hello when you do..

Laramie Project-Ten Years Later In Louisville

I'm bouncing out of the house toward downtown Louisville in an hour to the Pamela Brown Theatre.

My purpose for my night out is to check out the performance of The Laramie Project-Ten Years Later at 8 PM EDT.

Laramie is the hometown of the late Matthew Shepard, whose gruesome 1998 murder galvanized support for hate crimes legislation that has yet to pass Congress.

The Tectonic Theater Project conducted a series of interviews with Laramie residents in the wake of Matthew Shepard's murder in order to better understand the community. Those interviews became the seeds in 2000 for the Laramie Project, one of the most performed plays in America.

Ten years after Matthew Shepard’s death, the Tectonic Theatre Project returned to Laramie to see how the community had changed since the murder.

“One of the things we found when we got there,” shared playwright Moisés Kaufman, “which greatly surprised us, was people in Laramie saying this was not a hate crime.”

“We found the people of Laramie still fighting their own history…their own story,” continued playwright Leigh Fondakowski.

Actors Theatre of Louisville is joining over 100 theatres in all 50 states and across the world premiering a stage reading of the Tectonic Theatre Project’s The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, an epilogue to the original theatre piece.

The evening will commence with a live Lincoln Center webcast address from Kaufman, followed by the Actors Theatre’s 2009/2010 Acting Apprentice Company reading of the piece.

The night concludes with a panel discussion led by the Fairness Campaign addressing the importance of Hate Crimes legislation protecting LGBTQ individuals, and what citizens can do to make the passage of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act a reality.

Birthday girl and C-FAIR Co-chair Dawn Wilson will be taking part in the post performance panel discussion along with Director Michael Legg, Chris Hartman, Director of the Fairness Campaign, Michael Aldridge, Director of the ACLU-KY and a student leader from the University of Louisville.

Should be an enjoyable and informative evening at Actor's Theatre.