Hi there, everyone.
And happy Pride!
I'm L Morgan Lee and these are Iconic LGBTQ Moments in the Theatre
You Should Know.
This year for Pride I've teamed up with Eric Ulloa
Roberto Araujo, the team at Playbill and four other LGBTQ
Broadway stars you've already met, in hopes of empowering
and uplifting you each week of Pride 2022.
Each week we've come to you with a little mini lesson
about our glorious queer theatrical history.
So for one last time, this Pride, let's learn a little something.
The history of trans representation on Broadway
is a complex one, but begins around 1975.
While the ideas of gender expansion were being represented, it was murky.
It was gray it way. It was –
Look, you know what?
Even the title of this episode is wrong.
This is... How is there any kind of history of the trans
community on Broadway when our stories have never been told by us?
While we can talk about the incremental steps that have happened,
those moments don't celebrate much pride for our community
because they're not specifically about or told by our community.
In fact, the real history is what's just finally happening now and what lies ahead.
So, yeah, let's tell that story.
The thing is...
you can count the number of out trans performers who have been on Broadway
on your hands, which leaves a lot of work to be done.
Yet there are important firsts.
So let's celebrate them.
In July 2018, New York icon
and RuPaul's Drag Race alum Peppermint became the first
openly trans woman to originate a principal role in a Broadway musical.
With her performance in the Go-Go's tuner Head Over Heels, a few months later,
in September of 2018, stage,TV, and film star Alexandra Billings
became the first openly trans woman to originate a role in a Broadway play.
Billings played the gangster Waxy Bush
in the comedy The Nap, and now,
almost four years after these two firsts, in April 2022,
I was able to originate a principal role in the Broadway musical,
A Strange Loop, and I even got a Tony nomination for it.
L Morgan Lee, A Strange Loop
because yes, we are capable
of breathing life into so much more than single elements of our identity.
We are able to create characters and stories from all walks of life.
So now I want to look at a few creators and pieces that excite me
and amplify new, much needed voices on our stages.
These projects aren't all simply trans.
They're pieces that reflect the lives of Americans and in one case, Europeans.
Many underrepresented or historically ignored groups
inherently understand how vast the scope of society is.
And that is what is reflected in these works.
The people who aren't seen see it all, see us all.
These pieces are just delicious meals on the page.
And when that work is nurtured and given room to breathe,
I believe we are all better people for witnessing it.
So here are some of my favorites.
CERCLE HERMAPHRODITOS, by Shualee Cook, a piece that puts one
in the mind of the classic American plays.
A COMPLICATED WOMAN: THE JOHN KENLEY STORY
Book by Ian Field Stewart,
and Music by Jonathan Brielle.
A beautifully written musical loosely based on the life
of renowned summer stock producer John Kenley.
MAXA: THE MADDEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD by Mika Kauffman and Thomas Jacobsen.
An epic horror musical capturing the life story of Paula Maxa,
who was a famed French actress who died on the stage of the Grand Guignol
over 10,000 times.
And finally, an ever growing
number of plays written by Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi.
Just honestly, check them all out.
The thing about Pride is that it represents a community
that is so wonderfully diverse and rich in stories
to not allow for all those stories and storytellers to have their stage
and tell their tales is taking the life and the brilliance out of Pride itself.
We are a community that has been through a lot.
We are a community that knows how to come together.
And I hope we are a community that understands
there's always room for growth.
So here's where I leave you this week
and tell you to keep going, keep Googling, keep researching,
type in these topics, learn about these creators and pieces.
I gave you an appetizer and there's a whole feast out there.
Till next year.
Happy Pride, family!