COMPLETE CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR THIRD ANNUAL BREAKING THE BINARY THEATRE FESTIVAL
Posted by: Official_Press_Release 05:07 pm EDT 10/07/24

COMPLETE CASTING ANNOUNCED

FOR THIRD ANNUAL

BREAKING THE BINARY

THEATRE FESTIVAL

PRESENTING SEVEN EVENINGS OF NEW WORK

CREATED BY TNB2S+ ARTISTS FOR TNB2S+ ARISTS

AT LITTLEFIELD

AND

THE PETER JAY SHARP THEATER AT PLAYWRIGHTS HORIZONS

OCTOBER 21-27, 2024

TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE!

TONY AWARD-WINNER

SARA RAMIREZ JOINS CORE COMMUNITY BOARD


New York, NY (October 7, 2024) – Breaking the Binary Theatre (George Strus, they/them) announced today the complete casting for the third annual Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival. As previously announced, the festival, which will continue the groundbreaking theater company's mission of producing work created and developed by transgender, non-binary, and Two-Spirit+ (TNB2S+) theatre artists, will take place October 21, 2024 – October 27, 2024. Tickets are complimentary and are now available at www.btb-nyc.com/24festival .

The festival will open with TRUTH //: An Interdisciplinary Variety Show featuring Alaïa, Anania Williams (they/she), Ari Notartomaso (they/he), César Alvarez (they/them), Jade Jones aka Litty Official (they/them), JMV (they/them), Justin David Sullivan (he/she/they), Nora Schell (they/them), ONE (Esco Jouléy), and more at Littlefield (625 Sackett St, Brooklyn NY).

The festival will continue on at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Playwrights Horizons and will feature Aja Lynn Downing (she/her), Jennifer Nikki Kidwell (she/they), Mariyea (she/her), Temidayo Amay (them), and more in PRUNIN, HOEIN, N CUTTIN GRAPES; Yaffa AS (they/she) in HARVESTING OLIVES: A COLLECTIVE IMPROVISATION; Blair Barker (they/them), Colleen Litchfield (she/they), Drae Campbell (she/they), Karoline (they/them), and Zo Tipp (they/them) in FIRESIDE DANCES; Akane Little (they/them), Mei Ann Teo (they/them), and Zaza Diana Oh (they/them) in A RARE BIRD; Clew (they/them), Marquise Vilsón (he/him), and Samora la Perdida (she/they) in LUPE FINDS ME IN THE GARDEN OF DREAMS; and b (they/them), Brigette Lundy-Paine, Carl Clemons-Hopkins (they/he), Che Kabia (they/them/theirs), Joslyn Defreece (she/her), and Lux Pascal (she/her) in // DARE: A COLLECTION OF COMMISSIONED SCENES AND MONOLOGUES.

Festival casting is by The Telsey Office / Charlie Hano, CSA.

The organization is also thrilled to announced that Tony Award-winner Sara Ramirez (they/them) has joined their all-TNB2S+ Core Community Advisory Board. Sara previously performed in the 2023 Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival in both PARADISE and BLISS and co-produced the organization's production of Cecilia Gentili's RED INK in the summer of 2023, which raised over $35,000 for charity. They will be co-producing Yaffa AS' HARVESTING OLIVES in this year's Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival.

"Thank you to George Strus and everyone at Breaking the Binary for creating this space that not only affirms us in who we are, but recognizes us as so much more than an identity. Breaking the Binary recognizes our shared struggles and works to artistically connect us around our commonalities as well as our differences," Ramirez stated. "In a complicated world full of messy humanity, Breaking the Binary offers a respite, a salve, an incubator and so many other ways to build and grow in community. I am beyond excited to be on the BTB Core Community Board as well as co-produce our upcoming installation of HARVESTING OLIVES!"

The current festival lineup can be seen below:

Monday, October 21 at 7pm:

TRUTH //: An Interdisciplinary Variety Show

Co-conceived by Noax (they/them) and George Strus (they/them)

Featuring Alaïa, Anania Williams (they/she), Ari Notartomaso (they/he), César Alvarez (they/them), Jade Jones aka Litty Official (they/them), JMV (they/them), Justin David Sullivan (he/she/they), Nora Schell (they/them), ONE (Esco Jouléy), and more

at Littlefield, 635 Sackett Street, Brooklyn

Ari Notartomaso, Jade Jones aka Litty Official (they/them), and Nora Schell to the cast. Please keep the "and more" and if we have anyone else confirm for this today/over the weekend, we'll let you know.

Following last year's presentation of PARADISE, Noax and BTB Founding Artistic Director George Strus are joining forces again to create TRUTH //: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY REVUE at Littlefield. This special opening performance will showcase the talents of twelve stellar TNB2S+ artists and acts of various disciplines: vocalists, drag artists, comedians, and more showcasing original performance pieces inspired by the prompt "truth // dare."

Tuesday, October 22 at 7pm:

PRUNIN, HOEIN, N CUTTIN GRAPES

By Nissy Aya (Nissy; she/ze/we)

Directed by Dominique Rider

Featuring Aja Lynn Downing (she/her), Jenn Kidwell (she/they), Mariyea (she/her), Temidayo Amay (them), and more

at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Playwrights Horizons

416 West 42nd Street, Manhattan

In the highly regimented xxxxxxx, we witness the lives and lessons of a community of femmes assigned to teach the tools of sexual pleasure to others. Led by Alpha and her right-hand, her beta, Bilinda, this proud community of hoes carries on just them and their chil'ren. But with the pressures of a Choosing looming, the community deals with an unexpected and daunting assignment.

Wednesday, October 23 at 7pm:

HARVEST OLIVES: A COLLECTIVE IMPROVISATION

By Yaffa AS (they/she)

Developed in collaboration with Rad Pereira (they/them)

Co-produced by Sara Ramirez (they/them)

Featuring Yaffa AS (they/she)

at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Playwrights Horizons

416 West 42nd Street, Manhattan

Drawing from Mx. Yaffa's books of writing and poetry as a trans Palestinian death worker and community organizer, we invoke utopias, spiral through grief and jump between realms through a collective improvisation. We hold a container for chaos, intimacy, restorative devastation, falling apart, and space to commune with ancestors through oral history and experimentation. HARVEST OLIVES is adapted from Desecrated Poppies, Blood Orange, Inara with guidance from ancestors, community members, and guides.

Thursday, October 24 at 7pm

FIRESIDE DANCES

By MJ Kaufman (he/they)

Directed by Aya Ogawa

featuring Blair Barker (they/them), Colleen Litchfield (she/they), Drae Campbell (she/they), Karoline (they/them), and Zo Tipp (they/them)

at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Playwrights Horizons

416 West 42nd Street, Manhattan

When 16-year-old Em decides to move from a farm in rural Oregon to Portland in order to go high school, she lands in the home of distant relatives: lesbian moms Greta and Annie and their overachieving 8-year-old Kaitlyn. Cultures clash between rural and urban queer lifestyles, class differences and politics but Em and Kaitlyn vow to stay sisters no matter what.

Friday, October 25 at 7pm

A RARE BIRD

Written and directed by Zaza Diana Oh (they/them)

featuring Akane Little (they/them), Mei Ann Teo (they/them), and Zaza Diana Oh (they/them)

at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Playwrights Horizons

416 West 42nd Street, Manhattan

A RARE BIRD is an interdisciplinary Play, Live Physical Intimacy, and Quiet and Honest Sex Show. One could say that it is the birth of a new genre of extreme slow porn. A Rare Bird captures Skye and Gabriel's date on the carpeted floor against the couch of a studio apartment where neither is willing or able to make the first move. For Skye (ahem, the extrovert) and Gabriel, (ahem, the introvert) are stunted by their own respective shortcomings. We watch the date in real time with a VoiceEther (ahem, from Skye's POV) running. A RARE BIRD blends, defies, and subverts Erotic Thriller Cinema, Narrative Play, Stage Sex Show, and finally the Quiet and Slow Sex Education so many of us long for. This is an ode to Introversion, (loud) pauses, and letting less be.

Saturday, October 26 at 7pm

LUPE FINDS ME IN THE GARDEN OF DREAMS

By Esperanza Rosales Balcárcel (she/they)

Directed by Adin Walker (they/them)

featuring Clew (they/them), Marquise Vilsón (he/him), and Samora la Perdida (she/they)

at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Playwrights Horizons

416 West 42nd Street, Manhattan

Estrella, a young trans playwright, is at a spiritual crossroads. She becomes the Old Hollywood actress Lupe Velez on the last night of her life to find the answers to her questions, and the two people who hold them are Anna May Wong and Gary Cooper, her lifetime's greatest relationships. LUPE FINDS ME IN THE GARDEN OF DREAMS spans years in cinematic history to raise the question: what are the costs to being a queer artist of color in today's industry, and what would happen if we found a way of creating ourselves and our work outside of it?

Sunday, October 27 at 7pm

// DARE: A COLLECTION OF COMMISSIONED SCENES AND MONOLOGUES

Co-conceived by L Morgan Lee (she/her) and George Strus (they/them)

Featuring new works by D.A. Mindell, Dillon Yruegas (he/él), Esmé Maria Ng (they/he/she), Ianne Fields Stewart (they/she), Imani Russell (they/them), Jayne Deely (they/them), Jen Silverman (they/them), Jordan Ramirez Puckett (they/them), Nikhil Mahapatra (any pronouns), Nora Brigid Monahan (she/they), Sasha Velour (she/they) and Sophie Sagan-Gutherz (they/them)

Featuring b (they/them), Brigette Lundy-Paine, Carl Clemons-Hopkins (they/he), Che Kabia (they/them/theirs), Joslyn Defreece (she/her), and Lux Pascal (she/her)

at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Playwrights Horizons

416 West 42nd Street, Manhattan

Following OVERHEARD and BLISS, BTB Core Community member L Morgan Lee and Founding Artistic Director George Strus are partnering with Broadway Licensing for the third year in a row to create // DARE: A COLLECTION OF COMMISSIONED SCENES AND MONOLOGUES. The twelve commissioned works inspired by the prompt "truth // dare" will be crafted together and brought to life by a cast of five TNB2S+ performers to close the 2024 Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival. The works will then be published and licensed by Broadway Licensing in 2025.

Breaking the Binary Theatre is a new work development and community building hub wherein transgender, non-binary, and Two-Spirit+ (TNB2S+*) artists come together to reclaim our artistic license and liberty through a number of initiatives and programs, including the annual all-TNB2S+ Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival each October.

This fall, Playwrights Horizons is producing Sarah Mantell's In the Amazon Warehouse Parking Lot in association with Breaking the Binary Theatre. Performances begin at the Mainstage Theater at Playwrights Horizons on October 10.

Launched in July 2022 and founded and led by George Strus (they/them), the organization has produced over thirty-five workshops and readings of new works by TNB2S+ artists; produced a three-week run of Cecilia Gentili's RED INK off-Broadway starring Jes Tom, Angelica Ross, and Peppermint, raising over $35,000 for charities; commissioned over fifty TNB2S+ artists; hosted over thirty community events; launched a free educational Summer Intensive for emerging TNB2S+ performers, a New Musicals program to develop musicals written by and featuring TNB2S+ performers, and a BTB Across America program for TNB2S+ artists outside of New York; published two collections with Broadway Licensing; partnered with Playbill, Signature Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company, and BroadwayCon; been in-residence at Playwrights Horizons, Williamstown Theatre Festival and New York Stage and Film; and paid out over $500,000 to over 400 TNB2S+ artists.

*Breaking the Binary Theatre uses the term "TNB2S+" in hopes to encompass any person who is transgender, non-binary, Two-Spirit, gender non-conforming, genderqueer, agender, intersex, gender expansive, bigender, gender fluid, or any identity within the umbrella transgender community.

Breaking the Binary Theatre is counseled by its Core Community, a voluntary advisory board of prominent TNB2S+ theater artists working to further its outreach and impact. The board includes Tony Award-nominated designer Adam Rigg (they/them, The Skin of Our Teeth), Kleban Prize and Jonathan Larson Award-winning writer César Alvarez (they/them, Futurity), New York Stage and Film's former Artistic Director Chris Burney (he/they), Princess Grace Award Honoraria recipient and director David Mendizábal (they/he, The Bandaged Place), Guggenheim Fellow and writer Jen Silverman (they/them+, Spain), Tony and Obie Award-winning actor and writer John Cameron Mitchell (he/they, "Shrill" on Hulu), Tony Award-winning multi-hyphenate KO who was formerly known as Karen Olivo (they/them, In the Heights), Kleban Prize and Jonathan Larson Award-winning poet Kit Yan (they/he/she, Interstate), Tony Award nominee L Morgan Lee (she/her, A Strange Loop), Jane Chambers Prize and Helen Merrill Award-winning writer MJ Kaufman (he/they, A Transparent Musical), Tony Award-winning actor Sara Ramirez (they/them), Antonyo Award-nominated costume designer and activist Qween Jean (she/her, Primary Trust), Co-Director of A.R.T./New York Risa Shoup (they/them), Tomás Matos (they/them, "Fire Island"), Grammy Award-winning interdisciplinary storyteller Ty Defoe (he/we/ty, Straight White Men), and Artistic Director of Rattlestick Theater Will Davis (he/him).

Breaking the Binary Theatre is powered by Producer Hub. For more information, please visit http://www.btb-nyc.com or @BreakingtheBinaryTheatre on Instagram.
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