Laverne Cox, Holly Woodlawn, Kate Bornstein, Bianca Leigh & more headline transgender festival
September 9 - 13 at Baruch Performing Arts Center
Baruch Performing Arts Center presents GenderFluid, a weeklong festival of performance, film, and art by transgender and genderfluid artists, Sept. 9-13. Featured performers include Emmy-nominated Orange is the New Black star Laverne Cox, performance artist and Gender Outlaw author Kate Bornstein, icon Holly Woodlawn, and more. Baruch Performing Arts Center is located at 55 Lexington Avenue (entrance on 25th Street). Tickets are available at the box office, online at www.baruch.cuny.edu/bpac, or by phone at 212-352-3101.
Tuesday, September 9 - Laverne Cox and M. Lamar
Actor and activist Laverne 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, artist M. Lamar, as they discuss growing up in Alabama, their growing realization of the paths their lives would take, their family, and their careers today. M. Lamar's solo art exhibition Negrogothic is at Participant Sept. 7-October 12; he also played Cox's character pre-transition on Orange is the New Black. This is the first speaking engagement Cox and Lamar have done together.
8 PM; Mason Hall, 17 Lexington Avenue. $20; $100 VIP tickets include preferred seating and a backstage photo op with Cox and Lamar
Wednesday, September 10 - Gabrielle LeRoux and Victor Mukasa
South African artist and activist Gabrielle Le Roux and Ugandan LGBTI human rights defender, Victor Mukasa, present portrait drawings and videos co-created with trans and intersex activists in Turkey, East Africa and southern Africa.
7:30 PM; Engelman Hall, Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue (enter on 25th Street). Free.
Wednesday, September 10 - Andy Warhol: Celebrating the Famous and the Unknown
Baruch's Sidney Mishkin Gallery opens this exhibition of photographs and silkscreen prints by Warhol -- including many of his genderfluid friends.
5 PM; Sidney Mishkin Gallery, 135 East 22nd Street at Lexington, 646-660-6652.
Free.
Thursday, September 11 - Passing Ellenville
A screening of the short documentary Passing Ellenville, which looks at the lives of James and Ashlee, two transgender teens living in a small, impoverished town in the Hudson Valley. Followed by a talkback with filmmakers Gene Fischer and Samuel Centore.
7 PM; Engelman Hall, Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue (enter on 25th Street). Free.
Thursday, September 11 - Busted! The Musical
Bianca Leigh stars in this 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. Original songs by Jeff Whitty (Avenue Q), Taylor Mac, and other theatre notables. Directed by Tim Cusack and presented by Theatre Askew.
8 PM; Engelman Hall, Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue (enter on 25th Street). $20 ($15 students and seniors)
Friday, September 12 - Kate Bornstein: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us
Kate 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.
8 PM; 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.
Saturday, September 13 - Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Hedwig was willing to undergo a sex change to marry the soldier she loves and escape Communist East Germany - but things didn't quite go as planned. A screening of the rock musical film starring John Cameron Mitchell (the play is currently running on Broadway).
6 PM; Engelman Hall, Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue (enter on 25th Street). Free.
Saturday, September 13 - An Evening with Holly Woodlawn
Film director Paul Morrissey will introduce gay icon Holly Woodlawn. Holly will 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. She'll also perform a few songs live, including the classic "Walk on the Wild Side" - which Lou Reed wrote about HER. A rare evening with a legend.
8 PM; 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.
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.