A conversation about trans and gender nonconforming representation in the theater, Dreaming the Queer Future, will be held on Zoom on Tuesday, October 19, beginning at 6 pm. Presented by National Queer Theater (an innovative theater collective dedicated to recognizing generations of LGBTQ artists and providing a home for current ones) in partnership with the Dramatists Guild (the national trade association of playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists), the free event will be hosted by NYC-based multi-hyphenate performer and activist Peppermint, runner-up in the ninth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race and the first out trans woman to originate a lead role on Broadway (as Pythio in Head Over Heels).
This Spring, the two partnering organizations launched the New Visions Fellowship, a rigorous year-long professional development initiative aimed at celebrating and uplifting Black TGNC writers in the face of the systemic exclusion that they have endured within American theater. The 2021 New Vision Fellows are each awarded $5,000 (fully funded by National Queer Theater) and have the opportunity to participate in professional development sessions covering a wide range of artistic topics, to develop a play, musical, or performance experience of their own design and choosing. At the end of the program, NQT will host a professionally cast and directed reading of their play. In addition, they will receive a five-year complimentary membership to The Dramatists Guild, including access to contracts, business advice, and career services.
For the upcoming virtual event on Tuesday, Peppermint will be joined in conversation by the inaugural 2021 New Visions Fellowship recipients Ayla Xuan Chi Sullivan and Nick Hadikwa Mwaluko, along with NVF Lead Mentor Roger Q. Mason.
Dreaming the Queer Future streams on Tuesday, October 19, at 6 pm, on Zoom. To register for the webinar, go online. The event is free, but donations are welcome to support the mission of the National Queer Theater and the New Visions Fellowship.
